'Core irritants'

Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua's claim that the CIA-operated drone attacks inside Pakistan territory are "core irritants" in the Pak-US counter-terrorism co-operation and Pakistan was approaching "friendly countries" to prevail upon the United States to stop such attacks. A day before this briefing, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had informed the parliament of this move, but did not enter into details of the nature and scope of the new diplomatic offensive.
The FO spokesperson too was guarded about the issue, strengthening the impression that the Pakistan government has yet to say its last word on the drone attacks. These strikes continue to take place, even after the ISI chief Let-Gen Pasha's marathon interaction with his American counterpart. The signal from the general's meeting at the CIA headquarters tends to suggest that the US government did not accept Pakistan's plea to stop these attacks. But that's not the only perception.
There are now louder voices that in reality, Pakistan government and establishment are not opposed to drone attacks as such; all they want is that the CIA shares intelligence on the target before hitting it. An opinion, chipped in by the WikiLeaks also, seems to be forming that the Pakistani leadership is running with the hare and hunting with the hounds. Naturally, it's indeed a tricky job to create a balance between what the Pakistan government thinks, and even supports, the drones' efficacy in taking out the terrorists' hideouts and what it tries to project from the public platform.
Of course, there is no confusion on part of the US government to persevere with the drone attacks. Why does it still want these attacks, despite Pakistan's increasing annoyance and discomfort, Washington draws support, though vicariously, in favour of continuing the drone attacks on Pakistani territory from the chicanery that by US law, the CIA's covert operations are justified to protect America and American lives. One would think that somewhere there is a hard copy of an understanding on the need to carry out drone attacks. But having said this, one cannot be oblivious of the fact that these attacks are extremely unpopular with the people of Pakistan.
In its present mode, these tend to do just the opposite of what these were supposed to have done. The drone attacks are no more acceptable, and for both the civil and military leaderships to countenance this kind of 'friendly fire' has become a dilemma. Unless the US has those weird designs - like neutralisation of Pakistan's nuclear option - it has to effect a change in its stance. The way forward, as variously identified by Pakistani authorities is that the 'ownership' of drone attacks be passed onto Pakistan. There is a need to revisit the entire intelligence sharing co-operation between the two intelligence agencies, the ISI and CIA, in order to obtain real-time intelligence and information, a possibility that's very much achievable by firming up a concrete plan.