Jon Boone
Foreign ministry says deaths of Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto have left country in state of ‘shock and sorrow’
The accidental killing of two western hostages by a US drone strike demonstrates “the risk and unintended consequences” of unmanned aircraft, Pakistan has said.
The revelation that aid workers Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto were killed in a US counter-terrorism operation in January has been received with “shock and sorrow” by the country, its government said on Friday.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement: “The deaths of Weinstein and Lo Porto in a drone strike demonstrates the risk and unintended consequences of the use of this technology that Pakistan has been highlighting for a long time.
“Having lost thousands of innocent civilians in the war against terrorism, Pakistan can fully understand this tragic loss and stands with the families of Weinstein and Lo Porto in this difficult time.”
Pakistan has long objected in public to the use of lethal drone strikes in its troubled north-west tribal region, despite strong evidence that it has consented and even cooperated with the CIA-led campaign at times. In the past, Pakistan has most strenuously objected to the infringement of its sovereignty rather than the risk of innocent civilians being killed as well as militants.
The two men died in a drone strike that targeted a militant compound on 15 January. The revelation came on Thursday when the White House took the unusual step of declassifying information about the top-secret programme.
US officials admitted they were unaware the two men were in the compound despite having had it under prolonged observation.
Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, faces a growing controversy at home over why he was unaware for months about the accidental killing of Lo Porto, an Italian, by the US, even after he met Barack Obama at the White House last week.
The White House and Palazzo Chigi said Obama personally informed Renzi of the fatal strike on Wednesday, a day before the information was made public by the US president.
The timing of the announcement was confirmed by Italy’s foreign minister, Paolo Gentiloni, on Friday morning. Appearing before the parliament, he reiterated that Italy had only been informed of the accidental killing months after the strike occurred.
Gentiloni said it had taken US intelligence that long to verify Lo Porto’s death.
He said Italy took note of Obama’s “maximum transparency” in assuming responsibility for the deaths but that Italy wanted more information about what happened.
“We want to assure that Italy will find the way to honour the memory of Giovanni,” Gentiloni said. “And we will work to acquire the maximum additional information possible on the circumstances of the tragic error recognised yesterday by President Obama.”
The controversy underscored the periodic sentiment and frustration with the US that is sometimes apparent in the Italian political sphere: namely the view that Italy can sometimes be trampled on by its closest ally in matters involving terrorism.
“It is not possible that after months we were told of a fact that is so grave,” said Renato Brunetta, a member of the conservative Forza Italia party, who previously served as a minister under Silvio Berlusconi.
Lawmakers representing the anti-establishment Five Star Movement said in a statement: “This is an episode that discredits the actions of the executive on the international stage. This is their fight against terrorism? Renzi has to resign and with him all of his ministers. The country doesn’t deserve you.”
While bombastic demands for Renzi’s head are fairly routine in Italian politics, the prime minister was also criticised by an influential lawmaker on the left, Laura Boldrini, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, who said it was concerning that Italy did not know about the incident earlier.
At the time of his abduction in 2012, Lo Porto was working as a project manager in Pakistan to help sanitise drinking water following devastating floods in the country in 2010.
He was abducted with a German colleague, Bernd Mühlenbeck, who was released by his captors in 2014. Mühlenbeck has not discussed his ordeal and it is not clear why he was released or whether he remained in captivity with Lo Porto.
Renzi called Lo Porto “an Italian who dedicated his life to the service of others”.
Weinstein, a veteran US aid worker, had been held hostage since 2011 when militants stormed his heavily guarded house in Lahore.
Critics of the US drone programme have seized on the deaths as proof that the technology is not as accurate as some supporters of the strikes claim.
In recent years, Pakistan has actively been trying to develop its own armed drone technology and recently announced it had joined the small number of countriesto successfully launch a missile from a remotely-controlled aircraft.
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