2,227 killed in US drone strikes in Pakistan: Minister

Islamabad – The Pakistani Senate was informed Wednesday that a total of 2,227 people have so far been killed in 317 US drone attacks in the country since 2008.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan informed the upper house of parliament that those killed include 2,160 militants and 67 civilians, Xinhua reported.

The statement came a day after a victim’s family of Pakistan’s tribal area of North Waziristan addressed a joint US congressional briefing in Washington on the drone strikes and its effects on the people.

The head of the family, Rafiqur Rehman, a school teacher whose mother was killed in a US strike this year, urged the US to end the drone operations and help bring peace in the tribal areas through cooperative efforts with Pakistan.

Rafiqur Rehman’s children, who were injured in a drone strike, also recounted their emotional experiences.

The US lawmakers attending the briefing expressed their profound regrets over what had happened to the family and highlighted the importance of transparency in drone operations.

The interior minister, while giving details of terrorist attacks in the country in a written reply, told the Senate that 6,149 terrorists have been arrested by law enforcement agencies since 2002.

He said that a total of 12,404 people have been killed in incidents of terrorism across the country. He added that 413 incidents of terrorism, including suicide attacks, have taken place in the country since June this year.

He said capital punishment was awarded to 13,223 people since 2002 and 501 of them were hanged.

The interior minister said the federal government was providing all possible assistance to the provincial governments to curb terrorism.

On the issue of missing persons, he said a task force on missing persons has been constituted to monitor the progress in the cases of missing persons and coordinate efforts of all stakeholders working on the issue.