New Delhi, October 12: Security forces have observed the illegal entry of 191 drones into Indian territory from neighbouring Pakistan in the last nine months, raising major concerns in terms of internal security in India.
The Central Government recently shared the input from the security forces deployed at the India-Pakistan border to maintain such illegal attempts from the Pakistan side. Of the 191 drones observed, 171 entered into Indian territory through the India-Pakistan border along the Punjab sector while 20 were seen in the Jammu sector, says a report.
The report further says the "UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) observation in Indo-Pak border was seen in Punjab and Jammu frontier with effect from January 1, 2022, to September 30, 2022".
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Most of these drones or UAVs managed to flee while a total of seven have been shot down by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel, who are deployed along the India-Pakistan border to keep a tab on such illegal activities being orchestrated by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
Among seven drones shot down this year between January 1 and September 15 were observed in Punjab's Amritsar, Ferozepur and Abohar regions. As per inputs, the first drone was shot down by the BSF on January 18 in Punjab's Amritsar near Havelian Border Out Post (BoP).
BSF personnel on February 13 again shot down another drone soon after it entered Indian territory and was observed near CB Chand BoP in Amritsar. The BSF personnel also shot down two drones on March 7 and March 9 in Ferozpur's TJ Singh and Amritsar's Havelian BoPs respectively.
On April 29, BSF personnel shot down a drone near Pulmoran BoP in Amritsar. They also shot down another drone on May 8 when it was observed near Bharopal BoP in Amritsar. The last drone shot down by the BSF personnel was observed on June 26 near Jhanger BoP in the Abohar region of Punjab.
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Officials in the BSF said drones were being used by Pakistan's side to transport weapons, explosives and narcotics across the international border in Jammu and Punjab from Pakistan. The increased drone activity across the border was brought to the notice of Home Minister Amit Shah at the security review meeting in Srinagar recently with top security and intelligence chiefs in attendance.
The Home Ministry is learnt to have directed agencies to find out a solution to stop drone activities.
-PTC News
