Is the Jammu drone attack the next step in Pakistani terror strategy aided by Turkey?

The Indian Air Force base at Jammu Airport came under a drones attack on Sunday, injuring two IAF personnel. However, considering the available inputs, intelligence agencies doubt the two terror drones came from Pakistan. In addition to it, the Jammu Police arrested a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist with a 5 kg IED on the same day and foiled another terror attack.

Although the two attack drones led to low-intensity blasts at the Jammu IAF base, the whole incident appears to be a kind of preparation toward something more significant. In the light of enhanced vigil at the Line-of-Control and the International Border, Pakistan and its terror organisations are regularly using small drones since mid-2019 to send weapons, explosives and drugs to Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. With it, the Jammu drone attack marks the next step in the Pakistani terror strategy as drones offer a cheap and highly accurate weapon yet keep the operators safe at a distance.

It is to be noted here that Turkey had supplied drones to Azerbaijan, which had turned the Nagorno-Karabakh war against Armenia in their favour last year. Recently, Turkey and Pakistan have deepened their ties, and there are reports that Pakistan has expressed keen interest to acquire the Turkish drones. Considering their common goal to undermine India, the question remains whether Turkey is using similar tactics to counter India by supplying drones to terror state Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the Indian External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, is on a visit to Greece. During his tour, he discussed issues like the eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus, Libya and the UNSC reforms with his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias. All these issues are of core interest to Turkey, and Ankara is already creating several problems in them. Thus, the deepening of India-Greece relations is seen as counter to the terror nexus of Turkey and Pakistan.

With drones emerging as critical force multipliers that India cannot ignore, effective anti-drone technologies and strategies to tackle such unconventional threats become a pressing need.