ISLAMABAD – The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed a petition on Thursday seeking to halt US drone strikes in Pakistani territory.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, upheld an earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) and stated that such issues are overseen by the government.
The petitioner, Raja Saad Sultan, had contended that innocent people are killed in the drone strikes challenging the decision of Peshawar High Court, however, the chief justice remarked that the drone strikes have now stopped.
The top court further added that the Ministry of Defence and the government can engage Washington on the issue as the court can not ask the US to halt such attacks.
The dismissal of the petition is a visible indication of incumbent chief justice’ restraint regarding the oversight of the executive branch; the act is a deviation from policies followed by former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar who exercised suo moto jurisdiction and issued orders directly to the government of the day.
Pakistan and the US have had engaged over the matter of drone attacks with Islamabad terming them a violation of the sovereignty.
