What happened
Punjab will establish “anti-drone units” in every district of the province, the provincial home department said in a statement on Friday 6 March. Each unit will conduct aerial surveillance using special drone fleets, and an “anti-drone system” will be provided in each district under the leadership of its district police officer, the statement said.
Dawn reported that the launch of the unit had been approved by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz the previous week, when she said authorities should adopt pre-emptive measures instead of only reacting to terrorist incidents. According to the home department, surveillance drones and anti-drone systems will be allocated according to each district’s needs. The anti-drone system will “disable the drones of the enemy and miscreants with the help of jammers”, the statement added.
The home department spokesperson said the decision was taken to meet modern-day counter-terrorism requirements and to maintain law and order, and that police capacity for aerial surveillance and public safety was being increased.
Why it matters
The announcement follows a border conflict in which Afghan Taliban forces used what officials have described as rudimentary drones to target parts of Pakistan. A nationwide ban has since been imposed on flying unmanned aerial vehicles of any kind, and Section 144 was already in force across Punjab. Pakistan’s information minister said at the time that forces had killed 464 Afghan Taliban fighters in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq.
Punjab had already prohibited the flying of drones and UAVs in its jurisdiction for 30 days starting 25 February, according to the notification. The ban did not apply to small drones used for indoor activities such as in halls or marquees, or to drones operated by intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.
What is still uncertain
The home department did not give a timeline for setting up the units, the number of drones and jammers each district will receive, or the cost and procurement process. It also did not specify whether the units will be integrated with federal or military air-defence systems, and officials have not detailed how the province will enforce the existing UAV ban.
