The halt in drone strikes within the geographical territory of Pakistan Sunday completed 100 days.
The federal government claims that the halt in drone strikes was the outcome of their persistent diplomatic efforts, however, it is yet not clear why the drone strikes stopped.
Exactly for 9 years, 9 months and 17 days the US spy planes continued showering missiles in Pakistan’s tribal and settled areas, killing a total of 3,000 persons including Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders. The drone strikes suddenly stopped after the last one that had hit North Waziristan on December 26, 2013.
The people in tribal areas are of the opinion halt in drone strike during the government –Taliban talks confirm their suspicion that the drone attacks had the approval of the government.
Despite resolutions of condemnations in the assemblies, sit-ins and protest demonstrations, the hovering of drone over the skies in tribal still continuing which was recently confirmed by the Taliban liaison committee members after their visit to North Waziristan for talks.
The emphasis on the needs of holding talks with Taliban for peace in fact started after the formation of the governments of Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI). However, the US drone strikes killing Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rahman proved the greatest stumbling block in the way of initiating talks and thereby strained Pakistan-US relations.