Drones From Pakistan Spotted Twice Entering India's Punjab State - Reports

NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2019) Unmanned aerial vehicles from Pakistan have been seen twice over the past days entering the territory of the Indian border state of Punjab, media reported on Wednesday, citing sources from Indian security services.

Residents of several settlements noticed the drones and captured them on their phone cameras before reporting the sightings to the police, according to India's NDTV broadcaster. The police, in turn, found that the drones belonged to Pakistan, and that in recent days they had entered Indian airspace at least two other times during the night.

Indian law enforcement believe that these "night raids" have a very specific goal, namely to deliver weapons, ammunition and means of communication to Islamabad-funded extremist groups.

In September, Pakistani drones reportedly made eight sorties to Indian airspace and remained undetected. These drones were believed to have been making deliveries to militants operating in India-administered Jammu and Kashmir state.

Islamabad has rejected these allegations, saying that the residents of Kashmir, predominantly Muslims, are independently fighting for their rights.

India and Pakistan have fought for control over the Kashmir region � the southern part of which is administered by India and borders Punjab � since the end of British rule in 1947. Tensions there spiked in February after Islamists staged a deadly terror attack on the Indian security forces.

The situation worsened in August when India revoked the special status of the Jammu and Kashmir state and divided it into two federally controlled union territories. Pakistan expressed concern over this and promised to protect Kashmiris. Islamabad then expelled the Indian ambassador, halted bilateral trade and promised to raise the issue with the International Court of Justice.