(AKI) - One of Pakistan's senior military leaders, Chief of the Air Staff, Tanvir Mahmood, said on Tuesday that the Pakistan Air Force was fully capable of stopping drone flights and missile strikes. He said that it was now up to the government to decide whether it wanted to benefit from the country's capabilities or fight a war with aggressors.According to Pakistan's Geo News, the Air Chief Marshall made the remarks to reporters during a visit to a defence equipment exhibition in Karachi.
The number of attacks has increased sharply in recent months and there was widespread outrage over a US military raid that resulted in the alleged deaths of 20 Pakistani villagers in the village of Musa Nika, near the Afghan border in September.
Tanvir Mahmood said most of the fighter aircraft of Pakistan's Air Force would be replaced by JF-17 thunder fighters that would fill the gap. The fighter jets of Pakistan Air Force are fully capable to carry all types of warheads, he said.
Meanwhile the Pakistani daily, Dawn, said the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has assured Pakistan that NATO forces respected its sovereignty and had no mandate to enter the country.
Nisar A. Memon, head of a senate defence committee delegation, told the media the news on Monday on his return from a visit to the United Kingdom and Belgium. He said the delegation told NATO officials that drone attacks inside Pakistan were a serious cause of concern because they infringed on the sovereignty of the country and caused collateral damage and suffering to innocent people.
The delegation also expressed concern about the tremendous increase in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan without any checks by NATO forces and intensifying terrorist operations in the region.
A suspected missile strike from a US drone killed at least four people in a house in Pakistan's volatile North Waziristan region on Saturday. The attack was considered the fourth on Pakistani soil in November.