The latest attack of US gunship helicopters was carried out by their actually landing in our territory to kill more than 20 innocent civilians, mostly women and children. This is possibly the 12th attack on Pakistani territory. On each occasion, our Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and Foreign Office give out the same stereotyped statement "Pakistan will not permit attack on its territory by a foreign military..." which is actually a big joke. Despite these empty proclamations, the attackers never seek our 'permission'. This seems like a case of the proverbial 'Noora Kushti'. Perhaps the government of Pakistan has already permitted what they profess to never permitting; perhaps the arrangement is that US forces will keep killing our people in FATA whenever they want and the government will just issue a formal statement every time that it will never 'permit' so. -SAJID M. ANSARI, via e-mail, September 4.