PAKISTAN: Hundreds of tribesmen rally in Bannu, near Pakistan's restive Waziristan region, to protest against U.S drone attacks in the tribal regions of the country

Record ID: 184852

  • Title: PAKISTAN: Hundreds of tribesmen rally in Bannu, near Pakistan's restive Waziristan region, to protest against U.S drone attacks in the tribal regions of the country
  • Date: 14th February 2012
  • Summary: BANNU, PAKISTAN (FEBRUARY 13, 2012) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS CARRYING U.S. FLAG AND EFFIGIES OF U.S PRESIDENT OBAMA PROTESTERS CHANTING "GOD IS GREAT" PROTESTERS MARCHING THROUGH BANNU VARIOUS OF CROWD HOLDING WHITE FLAGS, LISTENING TO SPEECHES BY LOCAL ELDERS VARIOUS OF LOCAL ELDERS SPEAKING TO CROWD PROTESTERS HOLDING BANNER READING: "AMERICA IS THE BIGGEST TERRORIST" VARIOUS OF CROWD LISTENING TO SPEECHES (SOUNDBITE) (Urdu) LOCAL LEADER AND ANTI-DRONE ACTIVIST, FAKHR AZAM, SAYING: "These are the innocent tribesmen who defeated the British, who defeated Russia. Today America is terrified of their might. There is no terrorist here; these are suffering tribals. This is just American terrorism. America is the biggest terrorist." CROWD CHANTING EFFIGY WITH "USA PRESIDENT OBAMA " WRITTEN ON IT, PICTURE OF OBAMA'S FACE ON EFFIGY CROWD LIFTING EFFIGIES INTO THE AIR VARIOUS OF CROWD SETTING OBAMA EFFIGY AND U.S. FLAG ON FIRE EFFIGY ON FIRE RAISED UP IN THE AIR EFFIGY BURNING CROWD WATCHING EFFIGY BURNING
  • Embargoed: 29th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Pakistan, Pakistan
  • Country: Pakistan
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA26GUAGDZB00V6T80KXNT0P70Z
  • Story Text: Hundreds of angry tribesmen marched through the dusty streets of Bannu in northwest Pakistan on Monday (February 13) in protest against U.S. drone attacks in the region.
    Chanting anti-American slogans, protesters assembled in a large field to listen to local leaders denounce the controversial tactics employed by the United States on militants near the Afghan border.
    Over the last three years, drone strikes have quietly become the U.S administration's weapon of choice against miltants.
    Since taking office, President Barack Obama has transformed drone attacks from a rarely used tactic that killed dozens each year to a twice-weekly onslaught that claimed more than 1,000 lives in Pakistan in 2010.
    The second U.S. drone attack in two days in Pakistan's North Waziristan region killed five people on Thursday (February 9), including a senior militant commander with links to al Qaeda, Pakistani intelligence officials and Taliban sources said.
    Badar Mansoor, leader of a faction of the Pakistani Taliban with close ties to al Qaeda, was one of the five killed in the strike in Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border, intelligence officials and Pakistani Taliban sources said.
    Officials said the death toll could rise because buildings next to the one targeted were also damaged and people could have been there.
    "These are the innocent tribesmen who defeated the British, who defeated Russia. Today America is terrified of their might. There is no terrorist here; these are suffering tribals. This is just American terrorism. America is the biggest terrorist," said local elder Fakhr Azam, as protesters set fire to a U.S. flag and effigies of Obama.
    The sweeping use of drone strikes in Pakistan has created unprecedented anti-American sentiment in the volatile country.
    While U.S. intelligence officials claim that only a handful of civilians have died in drone attacks, the vast majority of Pakistanis believe thousands have perished.
    The Central Intelligence Agency's drone programme, a key element of the U.S. counter-terrorism strategy in the region, was apparently halted after a November NATO cross-border air attack killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, sparking fury in Pakistan.
    The attacks with the unmanned aircraft in Pakistan's unruly northwestern ethnic Pashtun areas along the Afghan border were resumed on Jan. 10.
    Several militant groups, including the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, operate in Pakistan's semi-autonomous border regions, taking advantage of a porous border with Afghanistan to conduct cross-border attacks, or plot violence elsewhere.
    North Waziristan is also an important base for the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, an Afghan militant faction allied with the Taliban, which the United States says is one of its deadliest adversaries in Afghanistan.
    The use of the remotely piloted aircraft over Pakistan is opposed by most Pakistani politicians and the public, who consider drone strikes violations of sovereignty with unacceptable civilian casualties.
    Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Saturday (February 11) criticised U.S. drone attacks as counterproductive and said Pakistan never authorised them.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register