A high court in Pakistan has ruled that US drone strikes in the country’s tribal belt should be considered war crimes and directed the government to use force to “protect the right to life” of its citizens.
The Peshawar High Court has recommended the Pakistani government
advance a resolution against the attacks in the United Nations. The
court issued its verdict on the CIA-run air strikes in response to
four petitions charging the attacks killed civilians and caused
“collateral damage.”
Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan heard the petitions, and ruled
that drone strikes on sovereign Pakistani territory were illegal,
inhumane and a violation of the UN charter on human rights.
“The government of Pakistan must ensure that no drone strike
takes place in the future,” the court said on Thursday,
according to the Press Trust of India. Khan also asked Pakistan’s
foreign ministry to file a resolution against the attacks in the
UN.
The court also recommended that if the US rejects these findings
in the UN, Pakistan should break off relations with Washington:
“If the US vetoes the resolution, then the country should think
about breaking diplomatic ties with the US.”
The Pakistani case was filed last year by the
Foundation for Fundamental Rights, a charity based in Islamabad, on
behalf of the families of victims killed in a drone attack on a
tribal jirga, including more than 50 tribal elders and a number of
government officials.
According to a report submitted by political officials of North
Waziristan Agency, 896 Pakistani residents of the region were
killed in the last five years ending December 2012, and 209 were
seriously injured. A report by the South Waziristan Agency showed
that 70 drone strikes were carried out in the last five years
ending June 2012, in which 553 people were killed and 126
injured.
“In view of the established facts, undeniable in nature,
under the UN Charter and Conventions, the people of Pakistan have
every right to ask the security forces either to prevent such
strikes by force or to shoot down intruding drones,” the court
verdict said.
Shahzad Akbar, a lawyer for victims in the case, hailed this as
a “landmark” judgment: “Drone victims in Waziristan will now get
some justice after a long wait. This judgment will also prove to be
a test for the new government: If drone strikes continue and the
government fails to act, it will run the risk of contempt of
court,” he said, according to the website of legal action charity
Reprieve.
The United States regularly targets Al-Qaeda and Taliban
militants in Pakistan’s mountainous tribal regions accused of
carrying out cross-border attacks in Afghanistan. Washington
This article originally appeared on : RT