The CIA station chief was first identified in news reports in Pakistan last month when he was named by a Pakistani attorney representing a North Waziristan resident who said two relatives and a friend were killed in drone strikes. The resident threatened to file a lawsuit against the agency and this week asked Pakistani police to file a criminal complaint against the station chief and prevent him from leaving the country.
It was unclear(????) whether the threat of potential arrest contributed to the agency's decision to remove the officer from Islamabad.
Mirza Shahzad Akbar, the attorney for the man whose relatives were allegedly killed in a drone strike, said Friday that 12 other North Waziristan families have agreed to participate in what amounts to a class-action lawsuit.
Akbar said that as he was preparing the case, he decided to ask journalists in Islamabad for the name of the station chief. Two Pakistani print reporters gave him the same name, he said, so he "assumed that was his name and . . . decided to go on with it."
Akbar said he thought the station chief was removed because of U.S. worries about the potential success of the lawsuit, not because of threats.
"I thought he would be pulled out, but I didn't think he would be pulled out this fast," he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/17/AR2010121703105_pf.html
