Letter: Civilian death toll in Pakistan

According to media, terrorist attacks this month in Pakistan killed more than 100 people across the country. The civilian death toll in Pakistan has surpassed the total number of civilian casualties this year in Afghanistan.

The Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict says more than 2,400 civilians were killed in Afghanistan in 2010, but the total number of casualties has been greater this year in Pakistan.

Civilians in Pakistan have lost their lives in military operations carried out in tribal areas, some of them revenge suicide attacks by militants in different parts of the country and some victims of US drone attacks.

Not even mosques, schools and hospitals are safe from terrorist activities, and ordinary people are paying a high price. For the first time in recent years hundreds of tribal people staged a sit-in in front of parliament in Islamabad protesting the killing of innocent civilians.

Tragic stories of human misery are coming to light through the media. Many people who took part in the sit-in have lost their legs, arms, eyes and even their families in US drone attacks.

Only days ago Kareem Khan, a tribesman whose brother and son were killed by US drone strike, filed suit against US Defense Minister Robert Gates in a Pakistani court and is now seeking compensation from the US. Due to the large number of civilian casualties the government is also losing its credibility among its own people.

Due to long war the education system and business activities have already been destroyed in most parts of the country in especially in tribal areas. Thousands of people are forced to leave their homes and now are living in miserable conditions with their small children and families.

Kawaja Uer Frooq
Jeddah