Drones: While the US was satisfied with killing of Hakimullah Mehsud, why their jubilation was not shared by Pakistani authorities or the population

By Amanda Paul

05 November 2013

A recent American drone strike killed the commander of the Pakistani Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud, along with five other Taliban leaders. Mehsud was behind a suicide bombing in 2009 in eastern Afghanistan that killed seven CIA agents.

While the US was satisfied with this result, with Mehsud having been on their “most wanted” list for quite some time, their jubilation was not shared by the Pakistani authorities or by some parts of the population. The attack was condemned by the Pakistani authorities as a violation of the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, with Islamabad stating that it wants to review relations with the US.

While many Pakistanis were relieved at the death of a man whose organization has terrorized the country, killing thousands of people, the incident nevertheless kicked off widespread outrage over US arrogance, increasing anti-Americanism. It also served to derail an initiative by the Pakistani government to launch peace talks with the Taliban in an effort to bring an end to the long-running insurgency. Pakistan has been badly hit in the US's war against terror, with at least 35,000 people having died in terrorist violence since 2001.

The whole business of American drone attacks in Pakistan is highly controversial, with some political actors, including former international cricket hero Imran Khan, who now heads the provincial government in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, proposing that the route of NATO trucks carrying supplies to Afghanistan should be blocked in protest. Pakistan is a key partner for the US in dealing with Afghanistan, but relations have been bumpy, to say the least. However, US aid is what keeps Pakistan going -- even though the country's high level of corruption means society barely sees a dollar. In October the US resumed a $1.6 billion military aid package that has been frozen since 2011.

US President Barack Obama significantly increased the use of drones when he took over from George W. Bush. The US, along with a number of other states including the UK and Israel, favor drones because they are unmanned and easy to deploy across international borders, often secretly. But while drones resulted in fewer US lives being lost, they have caused thousands of innocent civilians to die. According to the Pakistani authorities, of the 2,200 victims of drone attacks over the past 10 years, more than 400 have been ordinary civilians.

The Pakistani authorities have repeatedly called for an end to drone strikes, but so far this has fallen on deaf ears in Washington, which has strongly defended its use of drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere. This was made abundantly clear earlier this year in a May speech by Obama, when he stated that drone attacks on al-Qaeda and the Taliban were "necessary, legal and just."

But as concerns are increasingly raised, the issue is creeping up on the international agenda. It was hotly discussed at the recent UN General Assembly, marking the first occasion that member nations have discussed the use of drones and the international legal issues that it raises. The discussion followed the release of two UN reports on the topic by Christof Heyns and Ben Emmerson. Heyns, the UN's special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, warned of the danger of proliferation of the unpiloted weapons among states and terrorist groups while Emmerson, a specialist on protecting rights in counterterrorism, reported that his ongoing investigation into lethal extra-territorial counterterrorism operations had concluded that the 33 drone strikes that are known to have caused civilian casualties may have been carried out in violation of international law.

We know that drones are a fact of life these days and that it is difficult to declare that they are inherently illegal; yet the way they are used, often secretly -- which has frequently been the case vis-à-vis Pakistan -- raises important issues related to transparency and accountability. According to Emmerson, “It's not the drone that is the problem … but the lack of clarity under which it is lawful to deploy lethal force by drone."

While drone attacks can be very important, at the same time the US and other countries using drones need to be more transparent in their justification for carrying out these strikes and moreover, the consequences of the strikes, in particular related to civilian casualties.

Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/amanda-paul-330675-drones.html

URL: https://newageislam.com/war-terror/drones-while-satisfied-with-killing/d/14309