ISLAMABAD, Jan 31: Pakistan reminded the United States on Tuesday about the illegality of the drone war in tribal areas and emphasised that Islamabad was very sensitive about violation of sovereignty.

“Drone attacks are unlawful, counter-productive and hence unacceptable. We cannot condone violation of our sovereignty,” Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said.

He was reacting to a statement by US President Barack Obama in which he defended the drone campaign against targets in Pakistan during a live web interview.

Pakistani authorities have always publicly condemned the drone attacks, even though there have been very clear indications in the past that they tacitly endorsed the campaign against militants having sanctuaries in tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border.

The official criticism has helped stoke anti-American feelings in Pakistan, where it is widely believed that drones caused huge collateral damage.

President Obama in his interview tried to address the prevailing perception about drones.

There have been so far about 286 drone strikes against targets in Fata since 2004 when CIA started using the unmanned aerial vehicles to strike at militants. Up to 2,700 people could have been killed in these attacks. It is unclear how many of those were actually hardcore militants.

Mr Obama’s comments came ahead of a joint sitting of Pakistan’s parliament scheduled to meet soon for discussing the recommendations of Parliamentary Commission on National Security on review of ties with the US, which among other issues would touch upon the controversial drone attacks.

The parliamentary review had been initiated after the Nov 26 Nato attacks on border posts.

The US suspended drone attacks immediately after the incident, but resumed them earlier this month.