Pakistani artists using giant posters of child victims to ward off US drone strikes

A group of Pakistani artists have placed giant posters of children meant to be seen from the air in the country's tribal regions against US drone strikes.

The artists are hoping to generate 'empathy' from US drone operators by placing giant posters.

According to Dawn News, the project, titled #NotABugSplat, has released a photograph, of a poster laid out in a field showing the face of a girl who lost both her parents in a US drone strike in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

'Bug splat' is a term used by drone pilots based in the United States to refer to how victims look when seen through video cameras.

The Pakistani collective was set up with the help of French street artist JR. Shahzad Akbar, a lawyer who represents the relatives of drone victims, who founded the non-profit Foundation for Human Rights, distributed the posters to residents.

He said that they put the posters on the roof so that when the drones are flying, the Americans will see these pictures of children.

The strikes are greatly opposed in Pakistan, where they are widely condemned as a violation of sovereignty causing the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of innocent people.

According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, these strikes have killed at least 2,296 people and 416 civilians. It added that at least 168 of the victims were children.