Army Chief General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday reiterated that US drone attacks are violating Pakistan’s sovereignty.
During an informal talk with reporters after attending joint session of the Parliament, General Raheel stated that drone strikes are regrettable. He vowed that there is no option of failure in ongoing war against terrorism.
The Army Chief further said that China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) must be completed at any cost.
It may be mentioned here that during meeting with U.S. Ambassador David Hale at GHQ last week, General Raheel expressed Islamabad‘s serious concerns over the drone strike in Balochistan that targeted former Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
He denounced "such acts of sovereignty violations" as "detrimental to relations and counter-productive for the ongoing peace process."
The Army Chief insisted that "Pakistan s efforts, successes and sacrifices in fight against terrorism have been unparalleled."
Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed inside Pakistan in the drone strike few days back that hit his vehicle in Nushki district of Balochistan province. The airstrike strained relations between Pakistan and the United States.
Criticism of drone strikes centers on the number of civilians killed and the fact that they are launched across sovereign states‘ borders so frequently, far more than conventional attacks by piloted aircraft.
Civilian casualties from drone strikes have angered local populations and created tension between the United States and Pakistan and Afghanistan. Washington has sought to portray civilian casualties as minimal, but groups collecting data on these attacks say they have killed hundreds of civilians.
