Case registered against former CIA station chief over drone deaths

ISLAMABAD: Acting on the orders of the Islamabad High Court, a police station in the federal capital has registered a case against former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station chief Jonathan Bank over the death of two Pakistanis in a US drone attack.

Acting on the court's orders, officials at the Islamabad Secretariat police station registered the FIR today and transferred the case to the Secretary FATA.

According to police, the case has been transferred to the Secretary FATA since the drone strike took place in the tribal areas and was out of jurisdiction of the Islamabad police station.

Earlier this month, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC ordered that the First Information Report (FIR) be registered while hearing a petition filed by anti-drone campaigners Karim Khan, whose brother and teenage son were killed in a December 2009 drone attack in North Waziristan.

Karim’s case has been pending in courts since it was filed in 2010.

Bank was withdrawn as CIA station chief in Islamabad the same year after newspapers published his name, blowing his undercover status.

He was later made the head of the CIA's Iran operations, but was suspended after reports of employees complaining about his “abusive” management style.

Despite past controversies, the 47-year-old career officer was recently installed as deputy chief for counter-intelligence at the Counter Terrorism Centre – a senior role in the CIA’s department that conducts US drone strikes.