A drone being spotted at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad is an absolute breach of security and India expects Pakistan to investigate the incident and prevent any such recurrence, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.
“A drone was spotted over the premises of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad, Pakistan on June 26. This has been taken up officially with the government of Pakistan. We expect Pakistan to investigate the incident and prevent recurrence of such breach of security,” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi.
The drone spotted over the Indian High Commission complex in Islamabad last week was allegedly attempting to capture details of a diplomatic event that was being held at the Mission, preliminary investigations have revealed.
The Indian Mission has taken up the matter with the concerned Pakistani authorities through a note verbale.
The incident comes to light just 5 days after explosives-laden drones were used to carry out an attack on the Jammu Air Force station on June 27 (Sunday).
Security officials state that this was the first instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying unmanned aerial vehicles to strike at vital military and diplomatic installations in India.
Army Chief Gen MM Naravane yesterday said that the easy availability of drones has increased the complexity of security challenges from both State and State-sponsored terrorists and it is important to shed old mindsets to prepare for the new-age forms of warfare.
A day after the attack IAF station attack in Jammu, there were attempts to target the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak military station in the Valley with drones but it was thwarted by alert soldiers.
These incidents are “very serious and very dangerous”, and there is an urgent need to develop technology to counter such challenges, Border Security Force chief Rakesh Asthana said on Friday.
“There is an urgent requirement to develop anti-drone technology to stop the menace of drones, being used for narco-terrorism and attacks on vital installations. The drones have been used by the enemy country and by the criminal elements for bringing in not only weapons, ammunition and narcotics, but now since they are used for carrying payloads that is being used to drop bombs also which is something very serious and very dangerous,” Asthana said .
