Pakistan Army shot down an Indian quadcopter on Thursday after it violated the country’s airspace in Sankh district along the Line of Control (LoC).
According to a press release issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Indian quadcopter intruded 600 meters inside Pakistan’s territory for conducting surveillance. Pakistani troops aggressively responded to the ‘blatant act’ by shooting down the quadcopter.
https://twitter.com/laibaooe/status/1248120302690807808
“Such unwarranted acts by Indian Army are a clear violation of established norms, existing Air Agreement between two countries and reflect Indian Army’s consistent disregard to ceasefire Understanding of 2003,” the ISPR said.
Pakistan shot Indian quadcopter in January:
On January 3, 2020, The Pakistan Army shot down an Indian ‘spy drone’ within a span of two days along the restive Line of Control, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Twitter.
“Pakistan Army troops shot down another Indian spy quadcopter in Satwal Sector on Line of Control,” the tweet read.
Pakistan Army troops shot down Indian Spy Quadcopter in Bagh Sector along Line of Control. Not even a quadcopter will be allowed to cross LOC, In Shaa Allah. pic.twitter.com/CIT2ORe9eA
— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) January 1, 2019
The tweet included the picture of spy drone, but the ISPR chief did not give further details, at least immediately, as to how deep the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) had intruded into Pakistani airspace.
It was a clear reference to the claim made by the Indian government more than two years ago that their army commandos had carried out surgical strikes in AJK, on Sept 28, 2016, days after an attack on an army base in Uri in held Kashmir had left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
Read more: India is fomenting terrorism in Pakistan: DG ISPR
Not only that Pakistan had rejected the claim outright as a figment of the imagination. The release of the so-called surgical strike videos had also triggered scathing attacks from the Indian opposition parties, alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party government was using it for political gains.
The very claim was recapitulated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an exclusive interview to ANI news agency in January, which was carried by all Indian media outlets.
According to military sources, the Indian military uses quadcopter for aerial photography of Pakistani posts along the LoC as part of its intelligence-gathering operations and target selection before carrying out cross-LoC shelling.