Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Slamming the US drone attack inside Pakistani territory, Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan on Tuesday said the attack may have serious implications on relations between United States and Pakistan.

Pakistani government condemns the US drone strike inside its territory as it is in contrast to the United Nations charter and the country’s sovereignty, the minister told a news conference. “For the US government to say that whoever is a threat to them will be targeted wherever he is, is against the international law. Irrespective of who was target of the attack, Pakistan strongly condemns the drone strike,” he said, and added that a strategy to deal with the issue will be made after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s return to the country. He said a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) will be called to discuss the scenario emerging after the killing of Mullah Mnasour.

The minister said there would be chaos in the world if all countries begin targeting their enemies in other countries to ensure their own safety. To a question, he said if the US policy was followed, there would be law of jungle in this world.

“The US government says Mullah Mansour was targeted because he was against the peace process. Did they forget that when Afghan Taliban and Afghan government met for talks in Murree, it was Mullah Mansour who was leading the group,” Nisar said. “The Murree dialogue was ruined by deliberately releasing the news of Mullah Omer’s death and now that we were seeing some hope, this incident has occurred, sabotaging the dialogue process,” he added. “You cannot expect them to come to table after killing their leader … this killing has put Pakistan into a very difficult situation.”

Nisar claimed that many individuals who were a threat to Pakistan were present in the West. “Why does a man become a threat for the US when he is in Pakistan … why he was not a threat when he was in his own or any other country?” he asked.

The minister said it could not be confirmed that the person killed in drone strike was Mullah Mansoor as law enforcement agencies were still investigating the incident.

The driver of the charred vehicle was identified and his body was handed over to the heirs, but at the moment it was not possible to confirm that the second person killed in strike was Afghan Taliban chief, he said.

“Mullah Mansoor is an Afghan national and Pakistan’s government has no means to identify Afghan citizens,” said Nisar, adding that an individual has now approached the government to claim body of the second deceased person. He said that DNA samples have been collected and these would be tested against the person who claims to be Mullah Mansour’s relative and has come forward to claim the body. “Scientific means are being utilized to ascertain the identity of the body,” he said.

Regarding the passport recovered from the attack site, the minister said it belonged to a person named Wali Muhammad who had applied for manual national identity card in 2001 and for CNIC in 2002 whereas he applied for passport for the first time in 2005 and then got it renewed in 2011-12. He said intelligence agencies gave him information about the identity of the card holder and his Afghan identity on the basis of which it was cancelled along with 24,000 others.

He said his name was not forwarded by NADRA for cancellation of his passport due to some flaws in the system.