A US Predator drone fires a Hellfire missile. (file photo)<\/p>\n
An airstrike carried out by US assassination drones has killed seven people in Pakistan\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s North Waziristan tribal area, which borders Afghanistan.\n<\/p>\n
US drones fired two missiles into a compound in a village in the Shawal district of North Waziristan on Friday night, killing seven people, the Pakistani television network Express News reported.\n<\/p>\n
It was the first drone strike since Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as prime minister of Pakistan on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
On the same day, Sharif told parliament that CIA assassination drone strikes infringe on Pakistan\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s sovereignty and asked Washington to end the attacks on Pakistan\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s tribal areas.\n<\/p>\n
“This daily routine of drone attacks, this chapter shall now be closed,” he said to widespread applause in the National Assembly hall. “We do respect others’ sovereignty. It is mandatory on others that they respect our sovereignty.”\n<\/p>\n
On May 29, a US drone attack killed four to seven people in Miran Shah, the main town of North Waziristan.\n<\/p>\n
According to the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the United States\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 drone strikes in Pakistan have killed up to 3,601 people since 2004.\n<\/p>\n
Washington claims its drone strikes target militants, although casualty figures show that Pakistani civilians are often the victims of the non-UN-sanctioned attacks.\n<\/p>\n
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.\n<\/p>\n
In September 2012, a report by the Stanford Law School and the New York University School of Law gave an alarming account of the effect that assassination drone strikes have on ordinary people in Pakistan\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s tribal areas.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cThe number of \u00cb\u0153high-level\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 targets killed as a percentage of total casualties is extremely low — estimated at just 2%,\u201d the report noted.\n<\/p>\n
GJH\/HGL<\/p>\n<\/div>\n