Pakistan runs out of patience on US drone strikes

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has asked United States not to test his government’s patience on drones and that government would unveil a revised policy on drone attacks soon. The warning came as the US spy aircraft carried out four strikes in Pakistan’s Waziristan tribal region in three days and killed nearly 10 people including three al-Qaeda linked Egyptians.  A recent report on the US drone attacks in Pakistan says that the U.S. spy aircraft have killed up to 775 civilians, including 173 children, in 300 strikes in Pakistan tribal regions since the strikes had been started in June 2004.  The report released Saturday by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism said between 1,141 and 1,225 persons were also injured the strikes, mostly in Waziristan tribal areas near the Afghan border.  The report, quoted by the Dawn newspaper, has mentioned varying figures about the casualties in the attacks as it said that at least 2,318 people and a maximum of 2,912 people, the majority of them alleged militants, have been killed in these attacks.  Of the 300 drone strikes since June 17, 2004, it said, 248 occurred during President Barack Obama's first three years, rising to a frequency of almost one strike every four days.  Pakistan Defense Minister, Chaudhry Mukhtar, said Pakistan strongly opposes the US drone strikes and are asking the American to stop these attacks. He told reporters in the eastern city of Lahore yesterday that Pakistan’s is loosing patience as the US has continued strikes, which he described as counter-productive in the war on armed militants.  Mukhtar said that Pakistan will soon chalk out a policy on US drone that will have a tough stand on it.  To a question, he said Pakistan was a responsible nuclear power and couldn’t accept the killing of its people in drone strikes.