THE louder Pakistan decries drone attacks inside its territory, the more inaudible becomes the protests for the lame-duck Bush Administration. This became more obvious when the airstrikes, earlier restricted to the tribal region, were expanded to settled areas of the NWFP. Four people were killed and as many injured when a US drone fired two missiles on a residential compound in Janikhel area of Bannu District. A foreign news agency quoted a senior security official in Peshawar as saying that a major Arab Al-Qaeda operative was among the killed in the overnight attack, and American intelligence officials identified him as Abdullah Azam Al-Saudi, one of the main links between Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders operating on this side of the Durand Line. There is however no official word on whether US officials shared the intelligence with Pakistani security forces. But a drone intruding deep into our territory only hours after Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani's call on the NATO Military Committee in Brussels to immediately halt missile raids in the country, is indeed a cause of concern. Islamabad must adopt proactive diplomacy to safeguard the country's sovereignty.