As the United States holds back on its drone strikes in the tribal areas in the wake of the deadly NATO strike on Pakistani checkposts in Mohmand Agency that killed 24 soldiers, officials here said the US feared that the drones could be shot down after clear indications given by Pakistani authorities in this regard.
There has not been a single drone attack since the NATO strike on Salala checkpost in Mohmand last month and the US has put the campaign “on hold”, according to American news website The Long War Journal. Several US intelligence officials involved in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) programme, which uses unmanned Predator and Reaper strike aircraft, more commonly called drones, told Journal that US officials feared that an attack at this point in time would further damage the already fragile relationship between the US and Pakistan. However, a diplomatic source here said that clear indications had been passed to the US side during the communications through diplomatic channels after the NATO air strike that no more drone attacks would be tolerated and in case of breach or violation on the part of the US, the spy planes could be shot down.
“It was only after those communications that the US decided to halt the drone campaign and carry out no more strikes on Pakistani soil until the relations improve and tension is reduced,” the source said.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik reportedly said recently that the US had vacated the Shamsi air base, a strip used for drone strikes, but he could not say whether the attacks by the CIA spy planes would stop as the US would take a decision on its own in this regard.
However, a Pakistani official requesting anonymity said that there had been clear instructions by the military leadership to the ranks and cadres of the army that any intrusion of Pakistani air space and country’s borders must not be tolerated in future and they must be matched by a befitting response.
“The instructions are clear and the US officials have decided it is better not to resort to drone strikes fearing that the Pakistani army could shoot the planes down and also the ties between Islamabad and Washington would worsen further,” he said.