Importantly, the defence ministry said in a written statement in Senate that the collateral damage caused by the drone strikes had reduced to nil since 2012.
It is the first time that the so far jealously guarded date has been officially released by the government. The statement by the defence ministry came in response to a question submitted by PML-N politician Senator Nisar Mohammad in February this year.
The release of the data follows intense criticism of the US drone war by human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
activists.
The
UN Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson in his annual report submitted to the General Assembly in September had raised the issue of civilian casualties caused by America's lethal extra-territorial counter-terrorism operation and had asked Washington to make public the information on collateral damage.
The critics of drone attacks had relied on the narrative that it killed thousands of civilians and consequently fomented extremism in the country.
Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
, who last week met President B.O., made the drone attacks a central point of his meeting agenda.
Secret CIA and diplomatic memos leaked to media after the criticism of drone programme suggested that the Pakistain government had been on board with regard to drone attacks at least over the four-year period from 2007-11.
The figures presented in Senate contradicted the numbers shared by the government with UN Rapporteur Emmerson, who had been told by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March this year that of the 2,200 people killed by drones the government could confirm that at least 400 were civilians, and another 200 were likely non-combatants.
The figure of hundreds of civilians having been killed by drones, Emmerson was then told, was an "underestimate".
The defence ministry's statement corroborates US stance that drones are the most effective way of targeting Death Eaters with minimal collateral damage.