Pakistan rejects al-Zawahiri’s presence claim
ISN SECURITY WATCH (16/01/06) – Pakistan has denied that al-Qaida number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was present in Damadola village, in the Bajaur agency, on Friday night when a CIA missile strike hit the village.
Eyewitness accounts suggest that six US Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) violated Pakistani air space, with four of the drones firing missiles into three houses and a religious school killing 18 people, including five women and five children.
The Pakistani government summoned the US ambassador, for the second time in a fortnight, to explain the incident amid angry protests throughout the country denouncing the attack.
“Foreign Secretary Riaz Khan handed over a formal protest to the US ambassador at the foreign ministry this evening,” said ministerial spokesperson Tasnim Aslam.
Pakistan will also take up the matter at the next meeting of the Tripartite Commission, which is comprised of representatives of the US, Afghan and Pakistani militaries.
Aslam said that the matter was being thoroughly investigated, but that preliminary inquiries suggested that foreigners were present in the area at the time of the attack.
The Bush administration has yet to formally comment on the air strikes but the Washington Post reported on Sunday that it is not yet clear whether the CIA succeeded in killing al-Qaida’s deputy leader. Quoting unnamed officials, the paper reported that al-Zawahiri had been under CIA surveillance for two weeks.
Government sources say DNA samples from seven of the victims have been sent for analysis to establish their identity. “However, it is an undisputed fact that the US once again acted on incorrect information,” a source in the interior ministry said.
Haroon-ur-Rashid, a member of parliament from the Bajaur Agency, denied that any foreigners were present in the area, saying that all of the victims of the air strike were local people.
“Even if some [militants] crossed into Pakistan, the American forces cannot punish poor tribesmen for failing to stop infiltration,” he told ISN Security Watch.Rashid is seeking a parliamentary inquiry into the incident and has invited human rights groups to visit the area.
Thousands of angry protesters threw stones at government offices and other public properties in Khar, the main town in the Bajaur Agency, in protest at the killings. A three-day mourning period was announced during the protest and a boycott of business activity in the agency.
Protestors also set fire to the Khar offices of Associated Development Construction, a US Agency for International Development funded non-governmental organization. The officer in charge at the scene, site engineer Muhammad Fazal, told ISN Security Watch that, while the premises sustained serious damage, none of the staff members were hurt.
Karachi was the venue of the biggest protest rally. Putting aside bitter differences, several political parties joined hands to censure Washington and the "puppet Musharraf regime" for the bloody incident on Friday.
US Senator Evan Bayh defended the drone attack, saying: "It’s a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do?" Bayh, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN that, "The Pakistani border is a real problem." He complained that Islamabad exercised little control over pro-Taliban tribal regions.
Bajaur is one of seven British-era Agencies that form the administrative districts for Pakistan’s long, rugged tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. Low literacy rates, scarce development funds, the fallout of instability in neighboring Afghanistan and rigid traditions have held back socio-economic development in tribal areas.
Though Friday’s attack was the first such incident in Bajaur since US forces invaded Afghanistan, it was the second incident of Pakistani villagers being attacked from across the border in less than a week.
Eight people were killed in an alleged US gunship rocket attack on a house in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on 6 January.
Last month, Hamza Rabia, an alleged al-Qaida leader and associate of al-Zawahiri, was reportedly killed by a US missile strike in NWA.
An editorial in the Sunday edition of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn read: “Whether al-Zawahiri has been killed or not is important; but it is equally important for the Pakistan authorities to provide the exact details of the Friday incident.”
(By Naveed Ahmad in Islamabad)
Eyewitness accounts suggest that six US Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) violated Pakistani air space, with four of the drones firing missiles into three houses and a religious school killing 18 people, including five women and five children.
The Pakistani government summoned the US ambassador, for the second time in a fortnight, to explain the incident amid angry protests throughout the country denouncing the attack.
“Foreign Secretary Riaz Khan handed over a formal protest to the US ambassador at the foreign ministry this evening,” said ministerial spokesperson Tasnim Aslam.
Pakistan will also take up the matter at the next meeting of the Tripartite Commission, which is comprised of representatives of the US, Afghan and Pakistani militaries.
Aslam said that the matter was being thoroughly investigated, but that preliminary inquiries suggested that foreigners were present in the area at the time of the attack.
The Bush administration has yet to formally comment on the air strikes but the Washington Post reported on Sunday that it is not yet clear whether the CIA succeeded in killing al-Qaida’s deputy leader. Quoting unnamed officials, the paper reported that al-Zawahiri had been under CIA surveillance for two weeks.
Government sources say DNA samples from seven of the victims have been sent for analysis to establish their identity. “However, it is an undisputed fact that the US once again acted on incorrect information,” a source in the interior ministry said.
Haroon-ur-Rashid, a member of parliament from the Bajaur Agency, denied that any foreigners were present in the area, saying that all of the victims of the air strike were local people.
“Even if some [militants] crossed into Pakistan, the American forces cannot punish poor tribesmen for failing to stop infiltration,” he told ISN Security Watch.Rashid is seeking a parliamentary inquiry into the incident and has invited human rights groups to visit the area.
Thousands of angry protesters threw stones at government offices and other public properties in Khar, the main town in the Bajaur Agency, in protest at the killings. A three-day mourning period was announced during the protest and a boycott of business activity in the agency.
Protestors also set fire to the Khar offices of Associated Development Construction, a US Agency for International Development funded non-governmental organization. The officer in charge at the scene, site engineer Muhammad Fazal, told ISN Security Watch that, while the premises sustained serious damage, none of the staff members were hurt.
Karachi was the venue of the biggest protest rally. Putting aside bitter differences, several political parties joined hands to censure Washington and the "puppet Musharraf regime" for the bloody incident on Friday.
US Senator Evan Bayh defended the drone attack, saying: "It’s a regrettable situation, but what else are we supposed to do?" Bayh, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN that, "The Pakistani border is a real problem." He complained that Islamabad exercised little control over pro-Taliban tribal regions.
Bajaur is one of seven British-era Agencies that form the administrative districts for Pakistan’s long, rugged tribal region along the border with Afghanistan. Low literacy rates, scarce development funds, the fallout of instability in neighboring Afghanistan and rigid traditions have held back socio-economic development in tribal areas.
Though Friday’s attack was the first such incident in Bajaur since US forces invaded Afghanistan, it was the second incident of Pakistani villagers being attacked from across the border in less than a week.
Eight people were killed in an alleged US gunship rocket attack on a house in the North Waziristan Agency (NWA) on 6 January.
Last month, Hamza Rabia, an alleged al-Qaida leader and associate of al-Zawahiri, was reportedly killed by a US missile strike in NWA.
An editorial in the Sunday edition of the Pakistani newspaper Dawn read: “Whether al-Zawahiri has been killed or not is important; but it is equally important for the Pakistan authorities to provide the exact details of the Friday incident.”
(By Naveed Ahmad in Islamabad)
posted by Marko at 1/16/2006 01:58:00 PM
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