I am agree with Imran Khan… There is no guarantee that in Drone attacks only terrorist are dying. I hate all other politician including Khaam-e-Ala Punjab …
**ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan requested the Supreme Court on Wednesday to declare US drone attacks a war crime and a violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan.
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In his petition filed through Advocate Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, Mr Khan said that providing logistics and facilities to a foreign country or an alliance for mass destruction and killing of innocent people through drone strikes inside the territory of Pakistan was illegal, unwarranted and unconstitutional and a violation of the United Nations Charter, universal declaration of human rights and international law.
It was a war crime and an attack on sovereignty, solidarity, integrity and defence of Pakistan.
The court is already seized with a similar petition filed by a citizen, M. Tariq Asad, against the drone attacks.
The PTI chief requested the court to ask the government to explain under which authority of law it was allowing or facilitating the unmanned aircraft to strike inside Pakistan’s territory.
The federal government through the defence ministry, cabinet secretary, interior ministry, Foreign Office and home secretaries of the four provinces are respondents.
Mr Khan requested the court to order the respondents to lodge a complaint at an appropriate international forum against the killing of innocent Pakistanis, destruction of their property and their displacement.
The petition called for preventive measures against all kinds of attacks and atrocities, including drone attacks, in order to protect lives, liberty, dignity, honour, property and fundamental rights of the people.
The petition said that Pakistan was neither at war with any other country of the world nor had it been declared so by the government which was acting as a diehard ally of foreign forces and undermining the country’s sovereignty.
“The Constitution and domestic and international laws do not recognise any such agreement whether made overtly or covertly. Already rich heritage of Pakistan has been blown off by the forces facilitated by state functionaries, causing deprivation, exploitation and insecurity to ordinary citizens,” it said.
The malicious acts of the respondents, the petition alleged, abridged and offended constitutional guarantees ensured under Articles 4 (right of individuals to be dealt with in accordance with law), 9 (security of persons), 10-A (right to fair trial), 14 (inviolability of dignity of man), 15 (freedom of movement), 24 (protection of property rights) and 25 (equality of citizens) of the Constitution.
Mr Khan also cited the Aug 11, 1947, address of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the First Constituent Assembly of Pakistan: “The first duty of a government is to maintain law and order, so that the life, property and religious beliefs of its subjects are fully protected by the state. Now if we want to make this great State of Pakistan happy and prosperous, we should wholly and solely concentrate on the wellbeing of the people and especially of the masses and the poor.”
The Quaid-i-Azam had further said: “Wherein the integrity of the territories of the federation, its independence and all its rights, including its sovereignty, rights on land, sea and air, shall be safeguarded.”
Mr Khan said that according to Wikipedia, US forces had carried out 107 drone strikes which killed 1,366 Pakistanis since 2004. “The death-like silence on the part of the government over the atrocities committed on the citizens raises serious questions about its being privy to the act of committing drone strikes,” he said.
