Sir, – Not many people in the western world will mourn the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, who is alleged to have been the deputy leader of al-Qaeda, by a US drone strike in Pakistan (World News, June 6th).
However, it raises an issue which, as a lawyer, concerns me. President Barack Obama, after taking advice from the CIA that a person poses a “grave threat threat to the United States”, can make a decision to authorise the deployment of a drone to eliminate “a target” suspected of terrorist activities.
Unfortunately these operations are not precise, and it has been shown that many innocent people, including women and children, have been killed as a result, together with the “target”.
Pakistan has protested that such actions are “unlawful, against international law and a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty”. Is it not time that the United States respected international law and instead utilised more appropriate methods of dealing with the terrorist threat by influence and co-operation with Pakistan, rather than illegal unilateral action? – Yours, etc,