Drone Attacks On India: "Laaton Ke Bhoot Baaton Se Nahi Maante"

The drone attacks at the Jammu IAF base on Sunday weren't the first time that these new-age machines have been used against India.The drone attacks were carried out by a drone carrying Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). It's the beginning of new warfare.

Several instances of drones dropping weapons, drugs, and explosives in Jammu and Punjab in the past  fewyears — including one just a month ago have been tracked, reports Indian Express quoting defence sources

On May 14, the Border Security Force (BSF) detected weapons dropped by a suspected drone from Pakistan in Jammu. Following a tip-off, BSF troops conducted a search operation in the Samba sector and recovered arms and ammunition wrapped in yellow polythene from a field. These included an AK-47 assault rifle, a pistol, a magazine round, 15 rounds for a 9 mm weapon, a wooden frame used to attach the payload to the drone, and wrapping material.

On June 20 last year, the BSF had even shot down a drone. They said the hexacopter model was carrying arms and ammunition and was shot down at Rathua village in Kathua district’s Hiranagar sector along the Line of Control.

In the latest attacks, two drones were spotted over Kaluchak military camp in Jammu a day after Sunday blasts at IAF base. The UAVs were seen flying inside Kaluchak military station in Jammu late last night. Alert Army jawans fired at the drones to neutralize them, defence spokesperson said.

Indian in recent years were suspecting the possibility of drone attacks by the terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir. New Delhi has repeatedly accused Pakistan of using Chinese-made drones along the frontier to drop weapons packages for terrorist groups since last year.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, has also repeatedly warned that India could stage a “false flag” attack to divert attention from its domestic difficulties.

Drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have emerged as one of the most important weapons in Machine-driven military warfare. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles have been extensively used by the U.S. in global warfare against terrorism. Not only this,  orU.S. is also using drones for domestic law enforcement purposes. 

More than 50 nations have acquired drones and using them in domestic conflict situations. Israel is a pioneer in making drones and Australia had acquired drones for use in Afghanistan. Sri Lanka very effectively used drones against LTTE between 2006 and 2009.

Between 2004 and 2018, the United States attacked thousands of targets in Northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones). Most of these attacks were on targets in the Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in Northwest Pakistan. Some media referred to the attacks as a "drone war". Pakistan was so afraid of these drone attacks that in December 2013, the National Assembly  unanimously approved a resolution against US drone strikes in Pakistan, calling them a violation of "the charter of the United Nations, international laws and humanitarian norms."

So it's not surprising that Pakistan is using drones in a proxy war against India. Bankrupt Pakistan is just looking for diverting global attention from its domestic financial chaos after China refused to restructure its $ 3 billion liabilities. So Islamabad will try to rake up violence in Kashmir and drone attacks are these days potent and most effective weapons.

But India needs to retort and teach Pakistan a hard lesson. It's long overdue.  "Laaton ke bhoot baaton se nahi maante (Rude people do not understand soft language)". 

(Chander Sharma)