'Carpet bombing' of Pakistan must stop: Bilawal

Washington, May 26: Arguing strongly against what he called the "carpet bombing" of

, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said US drone attacks were turning out to be counter-productive due to the civilian toll they take.

The leader-in-waiting of Pakistan's ruling party called for an end to the US drone attacks, which he said were a violation of his country's sovereignty and international law. "The continuous carpet bombing of Pakistan by drones is not only counter-productive on the war on terror, it's also an egregious violation of our sovereignty and must end," Bilawal Bhutto told the MSNBC news in an interview.

"It's a violation of the US War Powers Act as well as international law. America was supposed to be that city on a hill, setting an example to the world. I do hope it returns to that status soon," said the son of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Bilawal refuted the American argument that drone attacks were an important tool in the war against terrorism. "No, I actually completely disagree. The drone attacks have not caught any big boys. They've been counter-productive with the amount of civilian casualties that they've had," he argued. "You can ask your own (US) military, they admit, barring Osama bin Laden, Pakistan, when provided actionable intelligence, has caught, captured or killed more al-Qaeda operatives than any other nation on earth," he told the MSNBC.

Bilawal said both Pakistan and the United States were working to resolve their differences. "And I'm hopeful that they will resolve their differences because we have a common goal and we can only achieve it together," he said.

PTI