US Drone Strikes in Pakistan Breed Terrorism - President to Sputnik

ISLAMABAD (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova – The United States must stop counterproductive drone strikes on Pakistan's territory, the country's president Mamnoon Hussain told Sputnik in an interview.

"[Drone strikes] are counterproductive, [they] fuel anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, and breed more terrorism," Hussain said.

Last month's international security conference in Geneva revealed estimates that as of January 2015 drone strikes in Pakistan killed nearly 4,000 people, including over 1000 civilians, mostly women and children.

"Pakistan has always maintained that drone strikes are a violation of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law," the president said, adding that Pakistan's own counter-terrorism activities leave no need for US drones.

Pakistan stepped up military action against terrorism after Pakistani Taliban gunmen killed some 150 pupils and teachers at a school in Peshawar.

The Pakistani leader told Sputnik that "extensive measures are being taken to inter alia develop a national narrative to counter violent extremism including through oversight over Internet and media and mainstream seminaries."

Pakistan's National Action Plan includes terrorism funding prevention and "comprehensive reforms in the criminal justice sector and building capacity of the law enforcement agencies," Hussain said.

Although claims by the US Council on Foreign Relations that civilian casualties in drone strikes are low, targeted drone strikes have been documented to have killed an estimated 3,674 people, including 473 civilians.