-File photo

PESHAWAR: The strong protest lodged with the US by the government and the military against drone attacks have apparently fallen on deaf ears as unmanned aircraft continued to fly over North Waziristan Agency on Saturday. Five to eight drones were seen flying at high altitude over different areas of the region where an unmanned aircraft attacked a tribal jirga on Thursday, killing 45 civilians.

Islamabad lodged a protest with Washington on Friday and announced withdrawal from the coming trilateral ministerial meeting on the Afghan issue.

People in Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan, said that drones, locally known as “Bungara”, hovered over the agency throughout the day.

“This is now a routine matter. People here can spot Bungara in the sky very easily,” said a resident of Miramshah.

Some foreign news outlets reported on Saturday that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had been put on high alert after Thursday’s deadly drone attack. However, a PAF spokesman, Air Commodore Tariq Qamar Yazdanie, denied such reports.—Bureau