Congress MP raises concern over drones from Pakistan

Congress member Rajeev Shukla flagged the issue of increased sightings of drones from across the line of control (LoC) in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday and emphasised that this is a serious matter as many of them are Chinese made.

"BSF has given reports of approximately 268 drones being sighted this year till the last week of November," Shukla said during the Zero Hour. "This number in 2021 was 109, in 2020 it was 49 and in 2019 it stood at 35. This clearly means that drones are being sent from across the border in increasing numbers and this is a matter of serious concern. There has been an increase in drone sightings and infiltrations, especially at the Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab borders."

The Congress leader maintained that this issue is especially worrisome as the drones shot at LoC "have a certain sophistication and technology similar to the ones produced by China".


He cited the example of the Burraq drone, which Pakistan claims is its own product. "But its technology is similar to China's rainbow series of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles," Shukla said.

He also expressed concern over the poor strike rate as only 16 of the 268 drones were shot down.

Shukla demanded that the government should work towards making the anti-drone system stronger.

"I request the defence ministry and the government to keep an eye on such drones, look into the reasons behind the weak anti-drone system and take the necessary corrective steps to improve the system," he said.

These drones are being used to traffic drugs from across the border into India. Since the matter concerns national security, the government should pay special attention to it, Shukla said.