U.S. Drones Killed 2,800 Civilians in Pakistan in 7 Years
Reposting an article from Disinfo.com. I do not normally do this but I noticed that the link was not only broken but led to the wrong address. I am putting up the body of the text from the Disinfo.com story here and a working link for anyone who is interested in this topic.
A Pakistani human rights lawyer says over 2,800 of the 3,000 people killed over the past seven years in non-UN-sanctioned US assassination drone strikes in Pakistan were civilians, Press TV reports.
Shahzad Akbar, the director of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, told Press TV on Saturday that only 170 of the people killed in the aerial attacks on the northwestern tribal belt of Pakistan have been identified as militants.
That means that “over 2,800 people were civilians, whose identities are not known, and they have just been killed on suspicion of being militants,” he added.
US President Barack Obama publicly confirmed for the first time in late January that drone aircraft have struck targets inside Pakistan. Obama said “a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA”, the acronym for Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Pakistan contends that the drone strikes are counterproductive. “We are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said on January 31.
The link to the PressTV story that spurred Disinfo.com story
PressTV: US drone raid kills three in NW Pakistan
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/238685.html
Cross posted to: so_very_doomed
A Pakistani human rights lawyer says over 2,800 of the 3,000 people killed over the past seven years in non-UN-sanctioned US assassination drone strikes in Pakistan were civilians, Press TV reports.
Shahzad Akbar, the director of the Foundation for Fundamental Rights, told Press TV on Saturday that only 170 of the people killed in the aerial attacks on the northwestern tribal belt of Pakistan have been identified as militants.
That means that “over 2,800 people were civilians, whose identities are not known, and they have just been killed on suspicion of being militants,” he added.
US President Barack Obama publicly confirmed for the first time in late January that drone aircraft have struck targets inside Pakistan. Obama said “a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA”, the acronym for Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Pakistan contends that the drone strikes are counterproductive. “We are of the firm view that these are unlawful, counterproductive and hence unacceptable,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said on January 31.
The link to the PressTV story that spurred Disinfo.com story
PressTV: US drone raid kills three in NW Pakistan
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/238685.html
Cross posted to: so_very_doomed