New Delhi/Islamabad: In the wake of unprovoked firing by Pakistani troops on the border in J&K, India issued a stern warning to its neighbour and also debunked their claim of downing a drone stating “It is not of Indian design nor of any UAV category held in the inventory of the Indian armed forces. It appears to be of hinese design, and is commercially available off the shelf”.
Both countries have protested to each other about the firing, with India issuing a “demarche” and Pakistan issuing a “note verbale” on summoning the Indian high commissioner, after which New Delhi accused Islamabad of seeking “to shift responsibility for the firing on the Indian side”.
New Delhi also said Pakistani forces had given covering fire to an infiltration attempt across the border in the Jammu sector at Indreshwar Nagar by three suspected terrorists in the wee hours of Thursday. The security brass has told the Narendra Modi government that the sudden, unprovoked firing by Pakistan Rangers now appears to have possibly been “planned in advance” with the motive to infiltrate terrorists.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar, home minister Rajnath Singh, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and national security adviser Ajit Doval also met here to discuss the situation. The spirit of bonhomie after recent talks between the two Prime Ministers at Ufa, Russia, appears to have dissolved in an instant, with New Delhi calling the Pakistani aggression “serious”.
Pakistan had begun the firing that continued through July 15, following which India retaliated Wednesday night. Pakistan, which claimed the overnight firing by the BSF led to the death of four civilians, is also engaging in firing.
India had Wednesday itself asked its high commissioner in islamabad to strongly take up the matter with Pakistan and sought corrective steps from Pakistan in this regard. There were a flurry of conversations that NSA Ajit Doval and foreign secretary S. Jaishankar had with Indian high commissioner to Pakistan T.C.A.
Raghavan and Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit on the situation. Obviously rattled at Indian counter-infiltration efforts, Pakistan has also raised the issue of India operating an helicopter well within the Indian side of the LoC on July 11 in an operation in which three terrorists were neutralised close to the LoC.
On the issue of the alleged drone, foreign secretary Jaishankar said: “The photograph of the drone in question indicates that it is not of Indian design, nor of any UAV category held in the inventory of the Indian armed forces. It appears to be of Chinese design, and is commercially available off the shelf.”.
However, he did not comment on TV reports that such drones of Chinese make are used by the local police force of Pakistan’s Punjab province and that Pakistan may have, in fact, shot down its own drone. Defence sources in New Delhi indicated that the Pakistan Army had earlier too shot down one of their own drones and that the alleged drone in the current case could have been a toy drone of Chinese-make used for a drill by the Pakistanis. Agency reports cited experts as saying the drone resembles Chinese-made DJI Phantom 3 and it looked similar to the quad copters acquired by the police of Pakistan’s Punjab province.
India operates drones of Israeli make. The Pakistan Army had claimed an Indian spy drone, used for photography, was downed in the Bhimber area near the LoC.
