Pakistan summons US envoy over drone strike that killed Mansour
-
This photograph taken on May 21, 2016 shows Pakistani local residents gathering around a destroyed vehicle hit by a drone strike in which Afghan Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was believed to be traveling in the remote town of Ahmad Wal in Balochista
Islamabad has summoned the US ambassador to voice its concerns over a recent US drone strike on Pakistani soil that reportedly killed Afghan Taliban Chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour.
According to Press TV quoting a statement released by Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Monday, David Hale was called in by the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi.
During the meeting, Fatemi reiterated Islamabad’s stance that the strike was carried out in violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and that it also breached a UN charter that was developed to guarantee the inviolability of the territorial integrity of states.
Fatemi also stressed that such measures would hinder the ongoing efforts by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group that is trying to broker peace talks between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan.
On Saturday, the US Department of Defense announced that it had mounted the strike against Mansour “in a remote area of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region.”
Meanwhile, Iran has denied media reports that Mansour had returned to Pakistan from the Islamic Republic before being killed.
Some media outlets had reported that Pakistani authorities said identity documents found on the body of the man -- now known to be Mansour -- showed he had left for Iran on March 28 and returned the day he was killed.
“The relevant officials at the Islamic Republic deny that this person on this date crossed into Pakistan from Iran's border," said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari.
ME
