Civilian victims’ kin protest against CIA drone attacks in N.Waziristan

ISLAMABAD - Two-dozen tribesmen hailing from the North Waziristan tribal region are staging a silent protest in Pakistan’s capital against US drone attacks along the Afghan border.

The protesters in Islamabad identified themselves as relatives of the civilians who killed or wounded in the drone-fired missile strikes, the Dawn reported.

The tribesmen displayed banners criticising the CIA-sponsored attacks while sitting silently near the Parliament building, and threatened to sue the United States unless it agreed to pay hundreds of millions in compensation for the victims.

Although Pakistan publicly condemns the drone strikes, it is believed to secretly aid them.

Meanwhile, a report released by Conflict Monitoring Centre (CMC) has revealed that intelligence officials of US and Pakistan “deliberately overlook civilian fatalities and relay only censored accounts to Western media organisations.”

“However, study reports suggest that the civilian casualties generally outnumber the killings of militants in drone attacks,” said CMC’s monthly report that was released last week.

According to the report, the month of November saw 15 drone strikes in North Waziristan, killing a total of 84 people, including a high number of civilians.

The months of September and October witnessed 23 and 21 drone strikes respectively, resulting in over 400 casualties during the last three months.

Noting that despite these massive-scale drone strikes, no top ranked militant was targeted, the report said, “No high-value target was either killed or injured in drone attacks during the month, only a local militant commander, namely Mustafa, was killed in the attack on November 21.” (ANI)