Pakistani sues US over drone aircraft strike

[PakSher]

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani man whose brother and son were killed by what he said was a US drone strike is on an ambitious courtroom quest to get $500 million in compensation and end attacks Washington launches against top militants.

Kareem Khan said a CIA-operated drone fired missiles at his house in Pakistan’s North Waziristan on the night of Dec 31 2009, killing his son Zaenullah, 18, and brother Asif Iqbal.

In a legal notice to US officials including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and CIA Director Leon Panetta, his lawyer is demanding $500 million in compensation.

“We say to them that these drone attacks you are carrying out are killing innocent people,” Khan told Reuters, describing the message he wanted to convey to the Americans.

A US embassy spokesman said no communication had been received over the case.

Pakistan’s government routinely protests against the strikes, but analysts say they could not occur without Pakistani help.

Khan’s attorney, Shahzad Akbar, also plans to file a constitutional petition in a bid to force a showdown.

“If the government is really pushed, we expect it to say it is happening with their knowledge, but not their consent, that they can’t do anything against the United States.”

Akbar hopes the Supreme Court will then rule the drone attacks illegal and put the United States under moral and legal pressure to end them.

“The main aim is to stop drone attacks and two, get compensation for the victims of drone attacks,” he said.

Both are unlikely. While not acknowledging the suspected CIA programme, drone strikes have killed senior al Qaeda and Taliban figures along the Afghan border, a global hub for militants.

Retired High Court justice Tariq Mehmood dismissed the case as a media stunt.

“You need to build public opinion against these strikes, stage demonstrations, and hold seminars. Such suits will not work.”

Pakistan worries the attacks undermine efforts to deal with militancy because civilian casualties inflame public anger and bolster support for the militants.

Khan, who lives in Islamabad, rushed to his village of Machikhel to find the mutilated bodies of relatives after the strike, which he said had killed another Pakistani man as well.

Several media outlets, including Reuters, reported the strike against Khan’s compound in North Waziristan where security officials were quoted as saying militants were hiding.

“I wanted to get revenge, but there was no one to attack.

So I decided to sue,” said Khan, 43.

Drones are vital because they allow the United States to kill militants from a distance. Using human informants is risky; Taliban militants often behead suspected spies for the United States.

Khan said he would do the same.

“I will will never let them live,” said Khan, who sports a thick black beard.

Pakistani Taliban militants are seeking to topple the government and have ambitions to strike in the West.

“I am a Muslim and they are Muslims so they are all my Muslim brothers. They are fighting for the cause of Islam and also for the defence of their own territory and country,” said Khan.

Critics say the drone strikes are short-sighted and only economic development can tackle militancy by erasing conditions that create jihadis, such as poverty and unemployment.

“They pick up sticks and they point them towards the sky and make believe they are shooting drones down,” said Khan, describing how children in his village react when drones hover overhead.

Pakistani sues US over drone aircraft strike | World | DAWN.COM

 

[FreekiN]

“I am a Muslim and they are Muslims so they are all my Muslim brothers. They are fighting for the cause of Islam and also for the defence of their own territory and country,” said Khan.

I hope he's talking about Pak Army.

 

[third eye]

He may as well include GOP in the list of those that need to be sued for the national govt too has failed in its duty to protect its citizens and the attacks happen with the tacit approval of Pindi / Islamabad.

Wonder if this has anything to do with the ISI chief being summoned by a US court ?

 

[PakSher]

Innocent Pakistani citizens should be eligible for fair compensation. If any terrorists were killed in drone strikes, then it is great.

 

[Zizou]

“They pick up sticks and they point them towards the sky and make believe they are shooting drones down,” said Khan, describing how children in his village react when drones hover overhead.


This sentence sums up all what USA or Pakistan army will ever achieve by these Drone attacks ... children who witness this fire from the sky every now and than can easily be influenced by any nut-head extremists and carry out suicide attacks within Pakistan or by Afghani Taliban's to fight against USA and NATO in Afghanistan and even if they don't, they will never grow up to be Pakistanis and why should they ????

Talibans will never be defeated because there are always new recruits thanks to these pathetic strategies ...

USA or Nato are perfectly aware that they can't defeat Talibans and they are not here to do that either ... They are just implementing the same old roman strategy of "Divide and Conquer" ....

It is now time that general public comes out in full force and stop this BS .... They are our brothers and if you can't stand up for them now, you have no right to expect them to act in the best interest of Pakistan later on either .....

 

[FullMetalJacket]

“They pick up sticks and they point them towards the sky and make believe they are shooting drones down,” said Khan, describing how children in his village react when drones hover overhead.


This sentence sums up all what USA or Pakistan army will ever achieve by these Drone attacks ... children who witness this fire from the sky every now and than can easily be influenced by any nut-head extremists and carry out suicide attacks within Pakistan or by Afghani Taliban's to fight against USA and NATO in Afghanistan and even if they don't, they will never grow up to be Pakistanis and why should they ????

Talibans will never be defeated because there are always new recruits thanks to these pathetic strategies ...

USA or Nato are perfectly aware that they can't defeat Talibans and they are not here to do that either ... They are just implementing the same old roman strategy of "Divide and Conquer" ....

It is now time that general public comes out in full force and stop this BS .... They are our brothers and if you can't stand up for them now, you have no right to expect them to act in the best interest of Pakistan later on either .....

Afghanistan is Taliban, in a general sense. I have a solution to get rid of the Taliban, but stating it here would probably get me banned.

 

[Zizou]

Afghanistan is Taliban, in a general sense. I have a solution to get rid of the Taliban, but stating it here would probably get me banned.

Why don't you share your vision on some zionist dominated forum with a similar evil thinking as you ....

Afghanistan is not Taliban and Taliban are not what they are portrayed to be in western media ...

Afghanistan's population is estimated to be around 25 million and the Talibans which military of 40 + nations laced with all the modern warfare tech are so desperately trying to defeat are estimated to be around 30,000 - 50,000 at most ...

Many have come and left, USA & Nato will leave soon too .... exhausted and defeated ....

You can't defeat those who embrace martyrdom ... They have a cause to fight unlike USA & Nato soldiers who have no bloody idea what they are doing there ....

 

[GentlemanObserver]

Afghanistan is Taliban, in a general sense. I have a solution to get rid of the Taliban, but stating it here would probably get me banned.

How is Afghanistan Taliban, this poster went retard, never go retard.

 

[foxhound]

ref:Pakistani journalist sues CIA for drone strike that killed relatives | World news | The Guardian

Pakistani journalist sues CIA for drone strike that killed relatives

Karim Khan is seeking $500m damages for death of two relatives in drone attack in North Waziristan

Share285 Declan Walsh in Islamabad guardian.co.uk, Monday 13 December 2010 18.37 GMT Article history

A Pakistani journalist is seeking $500 million damages from the United States government over the death of two relatives in a drone strike in North Waziristan in December 2009. Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

A Pakistani journalist whose relatives were killed in a US drone strike has started a legal push to charge America's top spy in Pakistan with murder.

"We appeal to the authorities not to let Jonathan Banks escape from Pakistan," said Karim Khan, naming the alleged CIA station chief in Islamabad. "He should be arrested and executed in this country."

Khan was speaking outside an Islamabad police station after lodging an application to prevent the US official from leaving Pakistan. He has lodged a separate civil suit seeking $500m (£314m) in damages from the US government.

Khan says that his brother and son, both government employees, were killed in a CIA drone strike on their home near Mir Ali in North Waziristan in December 2009.
Press reports named the target as Haji Omar, a leading Taliban commander. Khan insists that Omar was not in the house and that his relatives were innocent. "These men had nothing to do with the Taliban," said his lawyer, Shahzad Akbar.

Mir Ali is a hotbed of al-Qaida and Taliban militancy that has borne the brunt of a sharp escalation in US attacks this year. Akbar said his client has identified Banks as the CIA station chief through local press reports; one local paper recently claimed that Banks had entered Pakistan on a business visa and therefore does not enjoy diplomatic immunity.

Khan's allegations are difficult to confirm independently. Information about civilian deaths from US drone strikes is widely disputed, largely because the lawless tribal belt is out of reach to foreign and even most Pakistani journalists. His unusual legal bid has slim chances of success. The CIA has rarely been successfully sued at home, much less abroad. And the recent WikiLeaks cables revealed secret Pakistani government support for the drones.
As Khan lodged his legal papers today, the CIA deputy director, Michael Morell, met prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on the other side of Islamabad. But the case could revive public debate about the drones, whose legality was also questioned in a report by a UN human rights investigator last June. Pakistani public opinion is mostly hostile to drones, although criticism has abated somewhat this year. "I don't think we will achieve anything immediately, but we have started something," said Akbar. "Before this, nobody was thinking of the legality of the drones."

The drones are already a subject of lively debate inside the American system, the WikiLeaks cables showed. Last year ambassador Anne Patterson argued that increased "unilateral operations" risked "destabilizing the Pakistani state" and ultimately hindering the US goal of expelling al-Qaida from the region.