NEW DELHI – The Indian civil and military leadership has once again startedblaming Pakistan for a dubious drone attack on an air force station on June27, even before doing any investigation into the incident.
India’s chief of defence staff General Bipin Rawat has warned that hiscountry will retaliate strongly at a time and place of its choosing ifPakistan attempts to use drones or indulges in `hybrid warfare’ of any kindto target Indian civilian or military assets.
Gen Rawat said that investigative agencies were probing whether the smallexplosive-laden drones used in the attack on the Jammu air force station onJune 27 were launched from Pakistan or from within the region, and whetherthe intent was to deliver a message of a new capability or actually causedamage on the ground, said Gen Rawat.
Pakistan has categorically rejected the irresponsible and misleadingstatements by the Indian civil and military leadership after an allegeddrone attack on an air forces station in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammuand Kashmir (IIOJK).
Speaking at a webinar here, he said, “We do not yet know the ultimateintention. But let them (Pakistan) attempt to do something to damage ourassets, and the reaction from our armed forces will be very different. Thepolitical will is there. Our armed forces are ready.”
“A strong message has to be sent that anything of this nature, grey-zonetactics or hybrid warfare, if it damages our assets and affects ournational security, we reserve the right to respond at a time and place ofour choosing and the manner in which we wish to respond,” he added.
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Gen Rawat, referring to the border truce with Pakistan since February, saidthe mere stopping of cross-border firing on the Line of Control was notenough. “If you (Pakistan) are going to use indirect systems to disruptharmony and cause damage, it amounts to a violation of the ceasefire.”
Indian Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria said IAF did have a limited numberof “soft kill” jammers to disrupt the command-and-control links of smalldrones and “hard kill” counter-drone systems but they had not been deployedat the Jammu air station because it did not have “critical assets” likefighter jets.
The IAF chief said, “What happened at Jammu was essentially a terrorist actwhich attempted to target our assets (Mi-17 V5 helicopters) there. Theattempt failed. Two explosives, one HE (high explosive) in nature and theother fragmentation, were used.”
