Pakistan on Friday renewed demands for an end to US drone strikes on its territory as two UN experts called for greater transparency in the use of the unmanned aircraft.
“In Pakistan, all drone strikes are a chilling reminder that reprisal strikes by terrorists are around the corner,” Pakistan’s UN ambassador Masood Khan told a UN General Assembly rights committee debate.
Khan, following up a call made by Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to US President Barack Obama on Wednesday, said civilians had suffered “inhumane” deaths and the strikes had “radicalized” public opinion in Pakistan.
“We call for the immediate cessation of drone attacks inside the territorial borders of Pakistan,” Khan said.
“We hope that the United States would respond to this urgent call from Pakistan anchored in international humanitarian law,” he added.
Obama refused to comment after his Washington meeting with Sharif on Wednesday on the US drone strikes. A US diplomat at the UN meeting highlighted an Obama speech in May in which he said the drone attacks on al-Qaeda and the Taliban were “necessary, legal and just.”
The US government said it was giving “close attention” to a report by UN special rapporteur Ben Emmerson, a specialist on protecting rights in counterterrorism.
At the UN meeting, Emmerson urged the US and other countries using drones to release information on the justification for their use and “data on the level of civilian casualties inflicted through the use of drones.”
Emmerson said in his written report that Pakistan had told him that 400 of the 2,200 victims of drone attacks over the past decade were civilians.
Christof Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial and arbitrary killings, said drones are not “inherently illegal weapons.”
However, there had to be greater focus on drones because of the spread of their use, he added.
“A world where multiple states use such weapons in secrecy is a less secure world,” Heyns said.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Sunday announced a deal with the chief of Kurdish-led forces that includes a ceasefire, after government troops advanced across Kurdish-held areas of the country’s north and east. Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi said he had agreed to the deal to avoid a broader war. He made the decision after deadly clashes in the Syrian city of Raqa on Sunday between Kurdish-led forces and local fighters loyal to Damascus, and fighting this month between the Kurds and government forces. The agreement would also see the Kurdish administration and forces integrate into the state after months of stalled negotiations on
RSS