Months before the suspect Drone drop explosives at the Indian Air Force (IAF) station in Jammu on Sunday, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to point out the “serious implications” of the delivery of arms and contraband from Pakistan via sub-conventional air platforms flying at low altitudes, including drones and drones.
Senior security officials in Punjab said Indian express that the letter detailing the threat and the need for countermeasures was sent in November ahead of the CM met Interior Minister Amit Shah and discussed the same problem.
Officials said that over the past two years in Punjab, there have been between 70 and 80 drone sightings – and some cases of killings. After the note to the prime minister, high-level meetings were held between heads of state intelligence, the Punjab police and the Border Security Force (BSF).
In his letter dated November 21, 2020, Singh referred to the dropping of rifles and pistols by a Chinese-made hexagonal drone in August 2019 in Hoshiarnagar, Amritsar. And the observations of drones in the sectors of Ferozepur and Tarn Taran the previous fortnight.
Security guards stand guard outside Jammu Airport on Sunday. (PTI)
The chief minister warned that the delivery of long-range weapons across the border about 5 km deep into Indian territory at a “predetermined point, via a large drone is a matter of security. national “. And has serious implications for “the safety of highly threatened protected persons, the safety of public meetings / events”.
Singh called on the prime minister to convene a high-level meeting of various “stakeholders” to examine the drone threat and “discuss and rethink strategies” regarding the installation of infrastructure such as radars capable of detecting the movement of drones. these aerial platforms.
“Appropriate countermeasures against the use of these drones should also be developed, as it is now becoming clear that Pakistan is deploying such platforms to deliver contraband across the border,” he said. -he writes.
Security guards stand guard outside Jammu Airport on Sunday.
Talk to Indian express On Monday, Dinkar Gupta, director general of the Punjab police, said drone attacks and weapons drops constitute a “dynamic and continuing threat”.
He said that although several meetings have taken place in the state, central agencies, including the BSF, urgently need to develop response mechanisms and an infrastructure plan.
“The sighting of drones sent across the border is a regular feature along the border with Punjab,” Gupta said, “and that is why the affair has reached the highest levels in the country. last year. To some extent, the frequent launch of drones makes border fencing redundant. ”
