LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has called on the government to shoot down US drones violating Pakistan’s airspace, after a series of strikes in North Waziristan this week killed at least 25 people.
The demand follows drone strikes on June 2, 3 and 4 in North Waziristan. In the deadliest, on Monday, missiles hit a house in Hasukhel village near Mir Ali before dawn, killing five people. More missiles struck as people gathered to pull the injured from the rubble, killing 10 more. US officials said on Tuesday that al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Abu Yahya al-Libi, had been killed in the strike.
JI has consistently opposed the drone campaign, arguing that the strikes violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and kill civilians, and that it is the state’s responsibility to stop foreign aggression. Parliament demanded an end to drone strikes in April, when it approved new guidelines for relations with the United States.
Relations between the two countries have been strained since November 2011, when NATO airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the Salala border post. Pakistan responded by closing NATO supply routes and ordering the US out of the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan, which had been used for drone operations.