Pakistan 'mulls to counter attacks by US drones'

---

Pakistan's PM Yousuf Raza Gilani says his government is considering "a number of options" to counter attacks by US drones inside its territory, reports BBC.
His statement came after Pakistan's air force chief said his force was equipped to tackle the drones militarily.
US-operated pilotless drones have launched more than 20 missile attacks in Pakistani tribal areas since August.
The government is under immense public pressure to defend its territory against such attacks.
The drone attacks are believed to have been largely on-target, hitting Taleban and al-Qaeda hideouts in the north-western Waziristan tribal region.
But Pakistani media and opposition parties term these attacks as a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"We have a number of options that we can consider to counter these attacks, apart from going to the UN," Prime Minister Gilani said in an interview with private Geo TV on Tuesday night.
Archive image of a US "hunter-killer" drone, the MQ-9 Reaper, which has been deployed in Afghanistan
He said these options would be considered by the parliamentary committee on national security which was constituted earlier this month.
Mr Gilani denied that his government had any tacit or verbal agreement with the US over drone attacks.
The interview was aired hours after the chief of Pakistan Air Force, Air Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmad, told reporters that the PAF was capable of stopping drone attacks inside Pakistan.
The opposition have been pressing the government either to counter US strikes militarily, or to at least raise the issue at the United Nations.
The Pakistani government says these attacks are counter-productive as they help offset the negative popularity the Islamist militants have gained in areas under their control.
However, it has been reluctant to move either diplomatically or militarily to stop these strikes.