PRIME Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has once again acknowledged the fact that the war on terror has had an adverse impact on the economic situation of the country. During a meeting the International Crisis Group chief held with him at Islamabad on Tuesday, Mr Gilani also talked about the loss of investment, which severely affected employment opportunities, and urged upon the international community to realise its obligations and come forward to deliver on its promise of economic aid. While the Prime Minister was bemoaning the countrys economic predicament and rightly linking it to our participation in the war on terror, from another end of the spectrum, the US Consul-General stationed at Peshawar was demanding that it was extremely necessary for Pakistan to launch a military campaign in North Waziristan to wipe out terrorists sanctuaries that her country was convinced existed there. It is strange, though, that when asked about the need for any action in south Punjab, the Consul-General declined to reply, maintaining that it was an internal matter of Pakistan, but thought it fit to go to the press urging, in fact demanding, military operation in North Waziristan, as if it was not a part of Pakistan and she could freely interfere. The US, as the unadvised drone attacks on our tribal areas have shown, seems not to bother about Pakistanis sensitivities on the question of territorial sovereignty, at least as far as the tribal areas are concerned. The government does in public call for these raids to stop, but the real story might as well be different since the American sources, media as well as official, do not hesitate to assert that the US has a secret understanding with Pakistani authorities to ignore their public protests and continue to target militant elements, hostile to the US, in this manner. If so, this is a shameful surrender of our sovereign rights. With our problems mounting in every conceivable domain, notably insecurity consequent upon frequent terrorist attacks in our main cities for which the rationale is provided by these drones, and the economic chaos to which the Prime Minister referred and which directly flows from our cooperation in the war, the time has come to put our foot down and demand in clear terms that these raids would no longer be tolerated; and if the US persisted in violating our sovereignty, the PAF would shoot down these planes. There should be no ambiguity in our opposition to moving into North Waziristan. In fact, the whole range of cooperation with the US in the war on terror should be brought to an end.