Pakistan to U.S.: Stop Drone Strikes

The Pakistani Parliament on Tuesday called for the U.S. to stop drone strikes in their country—and for an unconditional apology for the strike November that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan issued the declaration in a five-page parliamentary review read by the chairman of the cross-party national security committee. The U.S. had hoped the parliamentary review would restore full diplomatic relations between the two countries, but the debate over the review’s findings has been pushed back until Monday—already a bad sign since the prime minister’s political career is currently in jeopardy and may not last past the weekend. Parliament also declared there should be no American “hot pursuit or boots on Pakistani territory,” a possible reference to the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. There have been an estimated 265 drone strikes in Pakistan since January 2008.