US drone attack counter-productive: Pakistani PM

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani Sunday condemned US drone attacks in the country’s restive northwest, terming them counter-productive in the fight against terrorism.

Gilani said that the drone attacks were increasing Pakistan’s problems instead of solving them and asked the US to provide the drone technology to Pakistan so that it could mount the attacks, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported.

Talking to media in Multan, he said that Pakistan was trying to convince the coalition forces that drone attacks by them were adding to Pakistan’s problems.

The prime minister said: “We have asked them to provide us with drone technology so we can use it against terrorists.”

The US military has stepped up drone attacks against Islamist rebels in the border areas of Pakistan. Most of the drone attacks have taken place in North Waziristan, where Washington wants Islamabad to move against Al Qaeda and the network of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose fighters have carried out deadly attacks against US-led NATO forces in eastern Afghanistan.