Pak editorial highlights govt’s double faced US drone tactics

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan secretly sanctions drone strikes, but, on the other hand, it has also been supporting certain factions of the militants, an editorial in a Pakistani newspaper has said.

“The US might have stopped drone operations temporarily in view of anti-American sentiments in Pakistan affecting the Raymond Davis case, but to argue that this happened because he was directly involved in gathering intelligence is absurd. In fact, it is the Pakistan government that had given tacit approval to these strikes while denying this and protesting against them in public,” the editorial in the Daily Times said.

“It is not outside the realm of possibility that Pakistan might also have been providing intelligence backup for this purpose. The process involves identifying targets, locating them, and calling in the strike. A single operative cannot do this,” it added.

The editorial also mentioned a Washington Post report, which questioned the efficiency of the 118 drone strikes carried out by the US last year in which 518 militants were killed.

“The Washington Post report quoted American experts and unnamed Pakistani sources for reaching the conclusion that the overwhelming majority of those killed are low-level militants. According to the report, out of the 518 killed, only two were on the most wanted list of the US,” the editorial said.

“Pakistan has reportedly pressed the US to “to find better targets, do it more sparingly and be a little less gung-ho”. It would not be out of place to argue that some of their own proteges were being hurt in this campaign,” it added. (ANI)