ISLAMABAD — Just one day after a CIA contractor was absolved by a Pakistani court of a double-murder charge, Pakistan and U.S. relations were plunged into a new crisis Thursday over a CIA-directed drone missile strike that Pakistan said killed at least 36 civilians.
Pakistan’s military and civilian leadership condemned the strike in unusually harsh language, demanding compensation for the victims and an apology. Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, called the attack a “violation of human rights” and said the dead were peaceful tribal leaders attending a meeting, not Islamic extremists.
“It is highly regrettable that a jirga (meeting) of peaceful citizens, including elders of the area, was carelessly and callously targeted with complete disregard to human life,” he said.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani called the strike “irrational behavior” and said it would “negatively impact the efforts to separate the militants from peaceful and patriotic tribesmen” and hit “very negatively on our joint efforts to eliminate the menace of terrorism in this region.”
There was no comment from the U.S., which does not publicly acknowledge the drone program.
The latest uproar came after Wednesday’s release of Raymond Davis, a contract CIA security officer who had been jailed for nearly two months on double murder charges. He was acquitted after each of the families of the dead men received a “blood money” payment of more than $1 million and formally pardoned him.
Thursday’s missile attack was carried out in North Waziristan, the region on the border with Afghanistan that is the focus of the drone campaign and the base of militant groups.
