Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said on Thursday that 12 Indian drones were shot down overnight at various locations across Pakistan and four army personnel were injured amid escalating military activity with the neighbouring country.
A day earlier, Pakistan mourned the loss of 31 lives in attacks by Indian forces on civilians, terming New Delhi’s actions “terrorism” and accusing it of continuous ceasefire violations on the Line of Control (LoC).
The Pakistan military touted the downing of five Indian fighter jets as a major victory — a claim which was seemingly acknowledged when Indian officials admitted that at least three of their aircraft had “crashed” within their territory.
On Wednesday, as both countries continued to trade heavy artillery fire, authorities revealed the extent of the damage caused by Indian strikes on six locations — Ahmedpur East, Muridke, Sialkot and Shakkargarh in Punjab and Muzaffarabad and Kotli in Azad Kashmir.
While addressing a press conference today, DG Chaudhry listed the locations where the 12 Harop drones had been neutralised. They were: Lahore, Attock, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur, Miano, Chhor and near Karachi.
He then showed a series of pictures showing the debris of the drones. He added that the debris and downed drones were being collected at multiple locations.
“Other than these 12, one drone, however, managed to engage a military target near Lahore partially,” DG Chaudhry said.
“Four men of Pakistan Army have been injured in this attack near Lahore and partial damage to an equipment has occurred,” he said.
The ISPR DG further said that as a result of India’s drone activity, one civilian has embraced martyrdom and one is injured in Miano, Sindh.
“As we speak, the process of India sending across these Harop drones … this naked aggression … continues and the armed forces are on high degree of alert and neutralising them as we speak,” he continued.
“This is a serious, serious provocation.”
“The Indians have resorted to these measures after] having miserably failed on the night of May 6 and 7, when they attacked places of worship and civilian infrastructure and killed innocent civilians including children, women and elderly,” he continued.
He further said: “Not only that, having faced the destruction of five of their aircraft, multiple drones, and suffering heavy casualties along LoC and damage, it appears that India has apparently lost the plot and rather than going on a path of rationality, it is further escalating in a highly charged environment.”
“To satisfy the hubristic mindset of the Indian government, the international community can visibly see the path that India is treading through this extremely provocative military aggression in a region, which is highly fragile and putting the security of the region and beyond at risk,” DG Chaudhry said.
He added that the Pakistan armed forces remain “fully vigilant to any type of threat”.
