PESHAWAR, July 18: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the federal government and the political agents of North and South Waziristan agencies to provide details of the US drone strikes in their respective areas, including the number of such attacks, names and number of persons killed by them and other collateral damage.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Sajjad Hassan Shah directed the federal government to provide attested copies of the resolution passed by parliament and the minutes of the cabinet’s defence committee on drone attacks.

It also directed deputy attorney general (DAG) Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand to provide details of the protests lodged by the Foreign Office to the US government against these strikes and the follow-up to them.

These directions and observations were made during the hearing into writ petitions filed by Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC), Foundation for Fundamental Rights (FFR) and advocate FM Sabir against the US drone attacks inside Pakistan and the killing of innocent people in them.

During last hearing, the court was informed by the defence ministry that there was no verbal or written agreement between Pakistan and the US allowing drone attacks here and therefore, these attacks were in violation of the country’s sovereignty.At the outset of the proceedings on Wednesday, the bench asked assistant political officer of South Waziristan Hameedullah Khan and assistant political agent of North Waziristan Mohammad Ameen about the collateral damage from drone strikes.

The bench asked them if they had any report on it in line with its earlier orders.

However, the two replied in negative, prompting the bench to ask them to follow the instructions on the next hearing in third week of August. The court issued the same directives to the DAG.

The chief justice also directed the lawyers appearing in these cases to prepare the case in light of international law.

The chief justice observed that apparently, drone attacks were in violation of the international law, including the Geneva Conventions. He reprimanded petitioner FM Sabir for showing up unprepared.

Shahzad Akber, counsel for FFR, said he had studied the international law on the subject comprehensively and would give arguments on the next hearing.

The lawyer for Pakistan Defence Counsel, Moazam Butt, was absent. He had earlier also informed the court that he would be representing former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, a respondent in one of these petitions, but has so far not presented his power of attorney.

The bench directed Mr Butt to produce the power of attorney on the next hearing along with comments about the case on behalf of Musharraf. The petitioners claimed that around 277 attacks by the US drones had so far taken place in Pakistan killing 1,680 people and injuring 2,634.

During the last hearing, the DAG had conceded the point of view of the petitioners and contended that several innocent persons were killed in drone hits and they included children and women.