Life on the Drone Kill List
Malik Jalal is a tribal elder from Waziristan who believes he is on a U.S./U.K. drone kill list.
The targeted strikes began in 2010, according to Jalal, when he says that he narrowly avoided three strikes.
The following year, in 2011, after a drone strike killed over 40 people at a gathering of leaders in North Waziristan, Jalal stated that he and other elders of the North Waziristan Peace Committee (NWPC) would support "blood revenge" against Americans.
Jalal says these statements were necessary for him to bring peace to the area, and to let people know that the elders were angry and willing to act. Nonetheless, Jalal says that he and other leaders of the NWPC have remained on the list, and continue to be targeted.
Jalal is in the United Kingdom this week on the invitation of the former director of public prosecutions, Lord MacDonald, to plead for his name to be removed from the kill list, and to tell the West directly of the consequences of drone warfare.
With the translation of his lawyer, Shahzad Akbar, The Takeaway spoke with Jalal about his situation. American and British intelligence agencies have yet to respond to The Takeaway's requests for comment on Jalal's claims, nor those of the organization that is representing Jalal in London, Reprieve.
