NEW DELHI, July 2: India has launched a strong protest with Pakistan after a drone was reportedly spotted over the Indian High Commission complex in Islamabad when an event was being held in the mission.
Agency reports said on Friday that the incident occurred late last week triggering a huge security scare in the mission. The incident came to light amid growing concerns in the security establishment in India after explosives-laden drones were used to carry out an attack on the air force base at Jammu on June 27.
The Indian mission has already taken up the issue strongly with the Pakistani authorities over what is being seen as a security breach.
There is no official comment on the incident yet. Further details were also not immediately available.
According to security officials, sighting of drone at the air force base in Jammu was the first instance of suspected Pakistan-based terrorists deploying unmanned aerial vehicles to strike at vital installations in India.
The Indian mission is located within the fortified diplomatic enclave in Islamabad, across a key road that runs in front of Pakistan’s Foreign Office. A residential complex for staffers of the mission is located a short distance from the high commission.
The entire diplomatic enclave is heavily guarded by Pakistani security forces and there is another layer of security near the Indian mission.
The incident in Islamabad coincided with the drone attack on an Indian Air Force base at Jammu on June 27 – the first-ever offensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles to target an Indian military facility.
While the IAF has officially confirmed that two low-intensity explosions took place in the technical area of Jammu air force station, senior officials and experts said the attack appeared to have been carried out using drones and marked a new chapter in Pakistan’s proxy war against India in Jammu and Kashmir.
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had raised the issue of drones being used by terrorists at the recent meeting of NSAs of the member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Doval had specifically referred to the need to monitor new technologies used by terrorists including drones for smuggling of weapons.
(Manas Dasgupta)