Pakistani drone victim demands compensation from US

ISLAMABAD - A US drone attack victim in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region has sent a legal notice to US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and CIA chief Leon Panetta demanding compensation worth Rs.500 million.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad Monday afternoon, the complainant Karim Khan said that “a drone attack at his house Dec 31 last year had killed his son and brother”.

“These attacks are being carried out without concrete information,” he alleged.

“Only a handful of terrorists have been killed in these attacks since 2004, while the number of civilian casualties is much higher,” he said. “The station chief of CIA in Islamabad, Jonathan Banks is dishing out money to natives in Waziristan to spy for the US,” he alleged.

Mirza Shahzad Akbar, lawyer of the complainant, said the CIA station chief “did not have diplomatic immunity”.

“The international court of justice could also be moved to seek relief against the accused,” he added.

The US drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal areas started in 2004 and over 1,700 people have been killed in more than 200 such attacks since then.

The frequency of such attacks, targeting Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts, has increased in the recent months, in which several high profile suspected militants have been killed.