Government establishments are seeking the drone attack on Indian Air force Station in Jammu as an attempt to put pressure on fragile ceasefire being maintained along the Line of Control (LoC) since February as well as disturbing the political process in Kashmir.
Drone attack has once again highlighted the tensions between India and Pakistan and relative calm at the LoC.
A meeting was held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval recently and discussed about the upcoming challenges in the defence sector.
Though officially the government has not come out with a response to drone attacks, all fingers are being pointed towards Pakistan reportedly. This is because agencies believe that the way of flying the drone and making it fly back after dropping Improvised Explosive Device (IED) with impact chargers shows it was planned well which regular network of Over Ground workers (OGWs) in Kashmir cannot have.
Moreover it was Pakistan who last year used drones to drop off arms and ammunition into Indian side to supply them to terrorists operating here.
Also it cannot be ignored that the drone attack was done after a few days of a meeting of the PM with Jammu and Kashmir leaders to put a pressure on the fragile ceasefire along the LoC. There are certain elements within the Pakistani state who do not want peace to occur. Moreover it has been anticipated that it was a signal that next time damage can be bigger.
Sharat Sabharwal, the former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan said that this attack has caused a lot of concern.
Further he said that ceasefire understanding has been in place since February which ensured that there is calm on the LoC but this incident disturbed it. The former High Commissioner further added, “We have to see where the investigation goes, the location, the range etc”. “If indeed Pakistan’s role comes up then there will be the usual problem of non-state actors or status apparatus behind them. So we have to wait”, he said.
Also the veteran diplomat said that if such an incident happens again it will harm the ceasefire on the LoC.
UN General Assembly, V.S.K. Kaumudi, Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs said, “Another add-on to existing worries is use of drones”. He further added that the easy availability of the drones, low cost option and it’s utilization by terrorist groups have become a reason to worry and created a challenge for security agencies worldwide.