Baqaians Forum

A Pakistani man has demanded that the British government reveal whether the UK spy agency assisted the US in carrying out covert assassination drone operations.

Noor Khan made the move after his father was killed in a US drone attack in northwest Pakistan in March, head of British lawyers Leigh Day and Co.'s human rights team Richard Stein said on Saturday.

In a letter to UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, the lawyers demanded answers over London's alleged links to the CIA covert drone strikes.

According to media reports, British intelligence agencies provided information to the CIA on the location of suspected militants.

"We ask the foreign secretary whether any information is being passed by agents of the UK government to US government forces to assist in these attacks," Stein said.

The British Foreign Office said it would respond to the issue, without setting a timeframe.

Drone strikes on Pakistan's tribal belt have killed thousands of people, mostly civilians, since 2004.

The Pakistani government has repeatedly condemned the drone attacks, which many Pakistanis see as a violation of their country's sovereignty.

Rights groups have expressed alarm at the secrecy of the drone operations and questioned its legality.
British lawyers Leigh Day and Co. have written a letter to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, demanding answers over London’s alleged links to the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) covert drone war.

In particular, they want to know whether British intelligence was used in the March attack in northwest Pakistan that, they claim, killed the father of their client, Khan.

The lawyers cite media reports, which detail how British intelligence agencies provided information on the location of militants targeted by the drones.

“We ask the foreign secretary whether any information is being passed by agents of the UK government to US government forces to assist in these attacks,” said Richard Stein, the head of Leigh Day and Co.’s human rights team.

“Unless it is categorically denied that the UK continues to pass such information to the US government forces, we require a clear policy statement of the arrangements which are in place and circumstances in which the UK considers it to be lawful to do so,” he added in a statement.

Clive Stafford Smith, head of British legal charity Reprieve, added: “CIA drone strikes are killing huge numbers of civilians and destabilising Pakistan.

“The British people have a right to know what their country’s policy is regarding our involvement in this illegal and disastrous campaign.”

A British Foreign Office spokesman said: “We will study this letter closely and respond to the issues raised.”