EFFECTS OF DRONE ATTACKS ON SOCIAL ECONOMIC POSITION OF PAKISTAN

Introduction of droneDrone is the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unpiloted air craft. The first powered unmanned vehicle was introduced by A.M Lows “the aerial target of 1916”. The US started its working on UAVs in 1959 , when they felt losing their pilots over hostile territory. Now Pakistan recently have introduced about 100

different kinds of drones with the help of china.

Background or causes of drone strikes : The US invasion after the 9/11 incident, coerced the Alqaida leaders and militants to leave Afghanistan a stateless and an unrest place of militants for decades. This made the TTP and other terrorist to recuperate and regroup. So Al-Qaeda and (TTP) on the western border of Pakistan not only affected the socio-economic and political life of FATA, but also made the western border of Pakistan a focal point for both national and international actors. The US in order to counter the militant leaders taking refuge along the western border of Pakistan, initiated the drone campaign of “target killing” in June 2004.

Us policy towards drone attacks:The drone strikes were initiated by Georege.W Bush

under the command of CIA (central intelligence agency). In Obama’s presidency drone strikes were increased about 4 to 10 times. At National Defense University Obama stated in a speech.” we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the American people, and when there are no other governments capable of effectively addressing the threat”. Former CIA official stated that agencies uses a careful screening process , a counter terrorist center which involves 10 lawyers who writes briefs justifying the targeting of specific individuals. US official stated that they have killed 9 of Alqaida’s top 20 commanders. In July 2009 it was reported that Osama Bin Laden's son “Saad bin Laden”was believed to have been killed in a drone attack earlier in the year.

US Drone Strike Statistics estimate according to the New America Foundation (as of 25 December 2013).

Year attacks militants civilians unknown total

2004 1 3 2 2 7

2005 3 5 6 4 15

2006 2 1 93 0 94

2007 4 51 0 12 63

2008 36 223 28 47 298

200 54 387 70 92 549

2011 122 788 16 45 849

2011 73 420 62 35 517

2012 48 268 5 33 306

2013 26 145 4 4 153Total 369 2,291 286 274 2,851

Pakistani policy towards drone attacks :Former president Parvez Musharaf told to THE NEW YORK TIMES that he had allowed to fly drones in Pakistan. Pakistan also has given the shamsi air

base and shahbaz air base to the US to use drone strikes in it. But later on, so Musharaf wanted the drones to operate under Pakistani control but US didn’t allow it. As on may 2009 Zaradari stated “Give me the drones so my forces can take out the militants from Pakistan and we cannot be criticized by the media or anyone else for actions our Army takes to protect our When Pakistan felt that most of the causalities in resultant drone strikes are innocent civilians sovereignty” (ICG, 2013).

REACTION FROM PEOPLE OF PAKISTAN :The majority of people , although condemn the drone campaign, however, they often mute their criticism due to fear of being called as pro-Taliban. Before the presidency of Obama, the US image among the public was satisfactory because civilians killings were minimal and some of top militant commanders are being killed. According to the survey at stanford and new york univeristies, the civilians of waziristan reported, ”the US actively

seeks to kill them simply for being Muslims.” A 2012 poll by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitude project found that only 17% of Pakistanis supported drone strikes. while, 97% considered drone strikes bad policy.

Effects of drone on psychological and economic life of Pakistan :The continuous collateral damage and resulting civilian casualties of Drone attacks has badly affected the socio- economic and psychological life of Pakistan.

• PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTSThe shrinking of economic activities plus the risk of being killed in drone attack has created stress and depression among the locals. According to a report, around 80% of the people living in Waziristan are faced with psychiatric issues and approximately 5% of the native population is facing the dilemma of post-traumatic stress

disorder. A research is found “parents don’t send their children to school due to the fear of drone strikes”.

Thus it created an opportunity for the militants to persuade the youth and recruit them in their so-called defensive Jihad against US and Pakistan. A respondent from Waziristan , “the irritating noise of drones is always on our minds. We can’t sleep at night. It seems that we are the next targets. Drones have made our life hell on earth.”

ECONOMICAL EFFECTS:Due to the drone strikes the poverty line drops to the 60% and unemployment rate is 60 -80% An affected of drone attacks said, “We cannot go to markets as drones are always hovering over the head. The markets usually remain close and people are shifting their businesses to cities ” Due to the economic losses and poverty

the youth of the tribal areas attracted towards militants. Drone attacks made the life of civilians miserable by damaging their properties and killing their breadwinners And Pakistan lost its contract with Australian company to exploit mineral resources in Waziristan.

CONCLUSION