Missile strikes by U.S. Predator drones inside the Pakistani tribal territory has once again sparked controversy as a U.S. law-maker has accused Pakistan of tacitly approving the attacks while the latter says these strikes are counterproductive.
Accusing Pakistan of double tone, Senator Carl Levin told a Congressional briefing in Washington earlier this week that Pakistan should accept "its tacit approval of drone strikes."
His comments came as Pakistani Interior Minister Rahman Malik claimed days ago that these strikes were counterproductive.
"They are killing civilians and turning locals against our government," Malik stressed.
The fresh trade of allegations came on the heels of two drone attacks in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area last week, in which over 70 militants, including foreigners, are said to have been killed.
It is for the first time for well over a year that the U.S. pilotless planes are targeted hideouts of Baitullah Mahsud, chief of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Pakistan's Taliban Movement.
The latest drone strikes coincided with the military operation, which the Pakistani forces have been preparing to launch against Mehsud group for the last two weeks.
The simultaneous strikes by U.S. drones and Pakistani artillery have, of late, aroused the feeling as if they were in a sort of collaboration against the militants, posing threat to both Pakistan and the U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Formerly Pakistani officials had been taking serious exception to the drone attacks, saying they violated its national sovereignty.
Reports about the utility of drone strikes are frequently appearing in Pakistani media ever since the Pakistani forces have announced to launch operation against Mahsud.
However, at the official level, Pakistan government still continues to take exception to drone attacks.
"We try to win people's heart and then one drone attack drives them away. One attack alone last week killed 50 people," Rahman Malik was quoted in a report.
For his part, Senator Carl Levin says it is wrong on Islamabad' s part to blame "us" for the missile attacks.
"For them to look the other way or to give us the green light privately and then to attack us publicly leave us at very severe disadvantage and loss with the Pakistani people," he told a Congress hearing.
In recent months, when the Pakistani leaders toned up their protest over the drone attacks, U.S. media quoted administration officials in Washington claiming that the U.S. pilotless aircraft were being operated from inside Pakistan.
Pakistani officials claim that majority of the victims of drone attacks over the past couple of years have been civilians.
However, officials with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), say the drone operations are very successful as they have perished 13 of the 30 top Al-Qaida operatives.
Failing to convince Washington to give up the drone exercise, Pakistan has now started to demand drone technology for its armed forces.
In his talks with U.S. National Security Advisor James John late last month, President Asif Ali Zardari called for transferring drone technology to Pakistan "to boost its indigenes capacity to eliminate the militants from its soil."
The controversy over drone strikes may heat up once again as media reports suggest that the Pakistan government is trying to mend fences with Baitullah Mehsud.
Rahimullah Yousafzai, a Peshawar-based analyst and journalist claimed on Wednesday evening that the government was trying to mend fences with Baitullah Mehsud through a local jirga (tribal council).
The change in Pakistan's position came as two other powerful Taliban commanders, in the lawless tribal area Maulvi Nazir and Hafiz Gul Bahadur, announced to support Baitullah Mahsud.
While Pakistan would not like to annoy its people in the militancy-plagued tribal areas at the cost of drone attacks, Washington would also not accept Pakistan making friends among those who pronouncedly support operations against international forces in Afghanistan.
(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2009)
