‘This is the first time for drone strike victim and survivor to travel to US and tell his story’ - expert
By Angela Davis for Voice of Russia.
The US has been stepping up drone strikes in Pakistan, following a lull after US airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in 2011. Rafiq ur Rehman, a Pakistani primary school teacher has felt personally and profoundly the impact of US drone strikes in his country. Not only were his three young children, aged 5 to 13, injured, but his 67-year-old mother was killed by US drones. Rehman has traveled to Washington DC and appeared before members of Congress today to describe his experience. This is the first time in US history that lawmakers were hearing directly from the survivors of a US drone strike. The Voice of Russia discussed it with Shahzad Akbar, the attorney of Rehmans’ family and director of Foundation for Fundamental Rights, that protects human rights in Pakistan.
Read morePakistani family recounts drone strike before U.S. Congress
By Narayan Lakshman for The Hindu.
The policy of remote targeted assassination via drones adopted by the U.S. was given a human face on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as a schoolteacher from rural Pakistan — present there with his young son and daughter — described at a Congressional hearing the death of his 67-year old mother in a drone attack.
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Pakistani family gives Congress an unprecedented account of effect of CIA drone attack on their community
By Rupert Cornwell for The Independent.
A father and two of his young children have come to Capitol Hill to give the US Congress an unprecedented first hand testimony of the death, injury and fear visited upon innocent civilians by secret CIA drone attacks in remote northern Pakistan.
Read moreIn a Surprise, Pakistan Says Fewer Civilians Died by Drones
By Declan Walsh and Mark Mazzetti for the New York Times.
LONDON — In a surprise move, Pakistan’s government on Wednesday sharply revised downward its official estimate of civilian casualties caused by American drone strikes in the tribal belt, highlighting again the contentious nature of statistics about the covert C.I.A. campaign.
Read moreFATA family recounts drone horror before Congress
By Staff Writer for The Nation (Pakistan Press).
WASHINGTON - Pakistani survivors of American drone strikes spoke to members of the US Congress Tuesday, and called for an end to killing civilians with weaponized unmanned aerial vehicles.
Read moreCongressional briefing: Victim family urges end to drone warfare
By Staff Writer for The International News (Pakistan)
WASHINGTON: A Pakistani elementary school teacher, whose mother was killed in a US drone strike last year, Tuesday urged the United States to end unmanned operations and help bring peace to the tribal areas through cooperative efforts with Pakistan.
Read moreDrone Victims Appear Before Congress for the First Time
By George Zornick for The Nation.
One year ago this month, Rafiq ur Rehman’s children were gathering okra in a field in Pakistan with their 67-year-old grandmother, Mammana Bibi. A loud buzzing noise quickly grew louder, and a US drone fired a missile into the field. International news reports carried American claims that multiple militants had been killed in the strike, but there was actually only one death: Mammana Bibi. The two children were injured in the attack.
Read moreCongress hears from drone survivors for first time
By Al Jazeera Staff for Al Jazeera America.
U.S. lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday morning from survivors of an alleged drone strike for the first time in history, with three Pakistani citizens appearing before Congress to describe an attack that killed their matriarch in Pakistan last year.
Read moreAt Congressional Briefing, Drone Victims Share Dreams of Life in Pakistan Without Fear
By Kevin Gosztola for Fire Dog Lake.
Members of a family in Pakistan, who became victims of the United States drone program in October of last year when their grandmother was killed and children were wounded, traveled to the US to inform Americans of what the US government is doing to Pakistanis and how it directly impacts them.
Read moreCongressional No-Show at ‘Heart-Breaking’ Drone Survivor Hearing
By Lauren McCauley for Common Dreams.
Despite being heralded as the first time in history that U.S. lawmakers would hear directly from the survivors of a U.S. drone strike, only five elected officials chose to attend the congressional briefing that took place Tuesday.
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