Pakistani army leader says U.S. drone attack not allowed in Balochistan

Pakistani Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez KayaniAshfaq Parvez Kayani has said that the United States drone attacks would not be allowed in Balochistan province, local media reported Wednesday.

Kayani said this in Tripartite Commission meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Tripartite Commission composed of senior military representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, held its 28th meeting in Afghan capital Kabul.

Kayani's remarks came as reports said that the United States has now turned its focus to Quetta, the capital city of southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province.

As American troops move deeper into southern Afghanistan to fight Taliban, the militant group's leadership council, known as Quetta Shura, is now high on the Obama administration's agenda, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson said, amid reports that Washington may start drone attacks on Balochistan's capital.

"In the past, we focused on Al-Qaeda because they were a threat to us. The Quetta Shura mattered less to us because we had no troops in the region," Patterson was quoted as saying in the course of a dispatch in The Washington Post, which says that Taliban insurgents have a haven in Pakistan.

"Now our troops are there on the other side of the border, and the Quetta Shura is high on Washington's list," she added.

The U.S. has intensified drone attacks on Pakistani tribal regions despite Pakistan's protest. Twelve militants were killed in two U.S. drone missile attacks in Waziristan tribal areas Tuesday.

Pakistani officials said that the drone strikes have killed more than 400 people in about 60 attacks since Aug. 2008.