The
article “A dangerous new world of drones”
is written by “Peter Bergen” and “Jennifer Rowland”. “Peter Bergen, CNN's national
security analyst, is director of the national security studies program at the
New America Foundation while Jennifer Rowland is a program associate at the New
America Foundation.” (Bergen). In this article the authors have discussed the
phenomenon of proliferation of drone technology and have tried to highlight its
impacts on the today’s scenario of the world. The arguments are well framed and
quantitative information have been presented to back up these arguments by
providing statistical data.
Authors are of the view that the drone
technology is being proliferated very rapidly in the countries around the
globe. Eradicating U.S monopoly of the last decade over this technology, today
about 70 countries possess some kind of drones.U.S started this technology and
launched it for the first time in their “war against terror” in Afghanistan and
Pakistan. The underlying point in this article is that there must be an
international framework on the issues of drone technology because of its highly
disastrous impacts onthe world order. As many other countries too have
established their motives to use the technology against their rivals in the
near future and have provided their own justifications for its use, such as
China announced that it would target the islands in the South China Sea with
drones. These islands are under the control of Japan but China and Taiwan both
are claimants of them. Authors think that use of drones by U.S has set a trend
for other countries and without an international framework it won’t be possible
to stop them from doing so.
U.S tries to justify the use of drone
technology in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen by terming it the most essential
tool to uproot the menace of terrorism and extremism there. U.S started targeting
certain areas of these countries through the drones after the 9/11 attacks. In
this article, light has been shed upon the underlying concern that the other
countries will also use the same technique adopted by U.Sto justify their use
of drones in other parts of the world. Authors provide examples to this fact.
It has been said that taking same approach soon India can exercise the use of
drones in Kashmir by providing the justification that suspected terrorists have
been tried to target. Similarly Iran can attack the borders of Pakistan and
target the Baloch nationalists and China has already established the threat
discussed in the above paragraph.
Moreover,
the writers highlight another one of the most alarming factors for the need of
an international framework on the issue of drone technology that is the
collateral damages associated with the drone strikes. A significant number of
innocent civilians have been killed over the last eight years in these attacks.
As Dr. Azeem Ibrahim who is Research
Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School’s International Security Program, said in his
article “Drones and Collateral Damage”:“In
the past eight years, drone strikes by the CIA have killed more than 2,400
people in Pakistan including 479 civilians, according to the London Bureau for
Investigative Journalism.”The drones cannot distinguish between the innocent
civilians and the criminals and for the reason at times these attacks results
in severe casualties of the civilians. Lives of a large number of children and
young adults have been ruined in these strikes by compelling them to live
paralyzed lives. This fact indeed is putting a huge burden on the social and
economic context of Pakistan.
It is a matter of fact that the
terrorism in Pak-Afghan belt is an ultimate threat to the peace of the whole
world and war against terror has become extremely necessarybut in the meanwhile
there is an intense need for reviewing the strategic framework of this war.
These drone attacks have been sowing the seeds of deep hatred and distrust in
the hearts of the common civilians of these nations. A survey predicts that
only 17 percent of the people of Pakistan are in the favor of these attacks.
Majority of the people of Pakistan have reservations on these drones and term
these as airspace violation of the Pakistani boundaries and in turn attack on
their sovereignty. Moreover, it is an acknowledgeable truth that the U.S has
been contributing significantly towards the war against terror but it is also
an ultimate reality that the increased intensity of collateral damage has been
terming it morally unjust. The fundamental cause of the war against terror can
be achieved without these drone attacks. One of the solutions is to transfer
this technology to Pakistan. This will result in less collateral damage because
the interior agencies of the country often have more insight into the people
and their activities residing inside the country and so the probability of
targeting the innocent people will be reduced to a much extent. Additionally
the reservation of the people of Pakistan that the drones are an attack on
their sovereignty will also be addressed.
Works
Cited
Bergen, Peter. "A Dangerous New World of Drones."CNN.
Cable News Network, 08 Oct. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
<http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/01/opinion/bergen-world-of-drones/index.html>.
Ibrahim, Azeem. "Drones and Collateral Damage."The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 July 2012.Web.13-Oct.-2012.<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azeem-ibrahim/drone-strikes-pakistan_b_1648681.html>.
Written By: Muhammad Azhar Khan
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