300 drone sightings since abrogation of Article 370: What is making Pakistan desperate

New Delhi, July 05: Over 300 drone sightings have been reported along the India-Pakistan border since 2019, when Article 370 was abrogated in Jammu and Kashmir. A week ago the first drone attack was reported in India, when two explosives were dropped off at an Indian Air Force base in Jammu and Kashmir.

India and Pakistan recently agreed to a ceasefire along the border. However the silence on the part of Pakistan was short-lived and now it has blamed New Delhi for the blast outside the residence of Lashkar-e-Tayiba chief, Hafiz Saeed, a charge that India has rubbished. Pakistan has upped the ante in Jammu and Kashmir ever since the abrogation of Article 370.

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that the main agenda of Pakistan is to stall the political process and outreach by the Indian government. During a recent meeting of all the parties in J&K with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, it was decided that the delimitation exercise would begin, which would in turn would pave the way for the assembly elections. The PM also assured the parties that the restoration of statehood was in the pipeline, but the primary agenda would be to hold elections in the state.

Pakistan has been using drones not just to strike, but to gather information and also transport arms and ammunition.

A drone gun is capable of jamming the radio, global positioning system (GPS) and mobile signal between the drone and the pilot and forces the drone to ground in good time before it could wreak any damage. This Australia designed weapon has an effective range of 2 kms.

A new committee was constituted by Union Home Minister, Amit Shah to analyse the various threats, including the ones that are posed by drones. In Punjab, the police found that drones were used by Pakistan to drop off weapons at the border areas, so that it could be transported to Jammu and Kashmir. The committee held a demonstration on the anti-drone technology in Haryana, where several officers took part. Sources tell OneIndia that rogue drones pose a major threat.

This would be one of the key threats in the coming days. The police force needs to be sensitised to such threats, the officer also said. The programme would include training in anti-drone detection, tracking and identification. The police would also be taught on how to handle the anti-drone equipment at critical areas including airports, which face a high level of threat from drones.

While the technology would be used heavily in the border areas, the Centre wants the training to imparted to those officials handling airport security. Currently there is no mechanism in place at the airports to handle the threat of drones. Hence this would have to be done on a priority basis and regular training programmes would be held in this regard, the officer also said.