Asia

Home page

Asia

Pakistan to review US ties after â€˜attack on peaceâ€™

03 November 2013 05:13 (UTC +04:00)

“The government of Pakistan does not see this drone attack as an attack on an individual, but as an attack on the peace process,” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said during a press conference in Islamabad on Saturday, a day after a US drone strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud, along with several other people, in North Waziristan.

The incident took place hours before a high-ranking Pakistani delegation was scheduled to meet Mehsud to start peace talks.

"This is not just the killing of one person, it's the death of all peace efforts," Khan said.

Meanwhile, a statement from Pakistan's Foreign Office issued on the same day said that the drone strike was "counter-productive to Pakistan's efforts to bring peace and stability to Pakistan and the region."

“Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud as we know has been killed by the United States in a drone attack in the tribal areas when he was actually conducting a conference of his commanders as how to start negotiation process with the government. And this is a clear act of sabotage of the negotiating process that was about to start today. And it’s a major attack on the stability of Pakistan by the United States,” Pakistani political commentator Syed Tariq Pirzada told Press TV.

The US says the CIA-run drone strikes primarily kill Taliban militants who threaten the US-led international forces in neighboring Afghanistan, although casualty figures show that Pakistani civilians are often the victims of the non-UN-sanctioned attacks.

The slaughter of Pakistani civilians, including women and children, in US drone strikes has strained relations between Islamabad and Washington, and Pakistani officials have complained to the US administration on numerous occasions.

On Saturday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the US ambassador to Islamabad to voice its anger over the blatant attack.