CIA Islamabad Station Chief Sued For Murder And Terrorism
Jonathan Banks is bunkered inside the fortified US embassy building but lawyers believe he is not covered by military or diplomatic protection. Pakistanis hope the move marks the first step in bringing to justice CIA officials and their Pakistani collaborators in the murder of thousands of innocent Pakistanis.
SPECIAL REPORT | Tuesday | 14 December 2010
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A Pakistani victim of CIA drones filed a case in Islamabad against CIA station chief Jonathan Banks, who bunkers inside the fortified US embassy building here, accusing him of attempted murder and terrorism.
Islamabad police has received a request to register a case against Banks from Shehzad Akbar, a lawyer for CIA drone victim Karim Khan.
CIA drone attacks on Pakistan are illegal and violate the UN mandate after 9/11 that allowed US military to occupy Afghanistan.
Karim Khan came from one of the few educated families in his district in North Waziristan. In December 2009, CIA drones killed his nephew and brother. Both studied in schools in Islamabad and imparted modern education in this underdeveloped part of the country. In a press conference earlier this month, Khan provided a chilling insight into CIA's innocent Pakistani victims in the tribal belt. [See Karim Khan vs. CIA]
A group of lawyers and citizen activists are probing the possibility of moving the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the President, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Defense Minister for their role in permitting CIA attacks on Pakistanis. The petition is expected to call on the Pakistani armed forces to play their role in the defense of motherland against illegal attacks by a foreign military force resulting in the murder of Pakistani citizens.
A secret cable from the US embassy in Islamabad, leaked by WikiLeaks website, shows Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani encouraging US officials to continue CIA attacks and pledging he would cover up for CIA in front of Pakistani critics. American journalist Bob Woodward has also quoted President Asif Ali Zardari telling an official US delegation he condoned Pakistani civilian casualties in CIA attacks.
According to international law, CIA station chief in Islamabad and other CIA personnel in the country are not considered part of regular military force and are liable to local Pakistani laws if their actions result in the murder of Pakistani citizens.
An international group, the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (Civic), said in a report last week that nine recent drone strikes in Pakistan had claimed the lives of more than 30 Pakistanis.
The United States has intensified aerial attacks in Pakistan's tribal regions since US President Barack Obama took office in 2009.
This is while hundreds of Pakistani people have taken to the streets of the capital, Islamabad, to protest the unauthorized US drone attacks on the country's tribal areas.
The protesters condemn the killing of over two-thousand civilians in non-UN-sanctioned American drone strikes since 2004.
Activists have asked Washington to pay compensation to the families of victims and those who have suffered losses in such attacks.
The United States claims its drones target militant hide-outs near the border with Afghanistan.
According to official figures some 10,000 people have been killed in both Pakistani military operations and US drone strikes since former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf joined the so-called US-led war on terror following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
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