ISLAMABAD: India has been intruding Pakistan’s airspace by operating its spy drones to collect “strategic information” regarding the army’s deployment, bunker positioning and movement of weapons along the Line of Control, military experts said on Saturday, warning that New Delhi’s activities can ultimately lead to a full-scale escalation along the international border.
The Pakistan Army has downed at least eight spy quadcopters of India this year that flew into its territory from across the LoC, a military control line that divides the disputed Kashmir region between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Both Pakistan and India claim the Muslim-majority territory in full but control only parts of it and have fought at least three full-scale wars over it. Tensions have also remained high along the LoC since August last year when India unilaterally revoked the special constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir that offered the region a semblance of autonomy.
“India basically wants to crush Kashmir’s freedom movement by keeping us under pressure through different tactics, including intrusion of drones into our territory,” Lt. Gen. (r) Naeem Khalid Lodhi told Arab News on Saturday.
He described spying drones as a “dangerous thing,” adding they sent photos and data in real time back to their operators and helped forces engage their targets with greater precision.
“The modern drones are also cheap. It doesn’t make much of a difference to an army if a few of them are shot down by the adversaries. They are also small in size and difficult to detect on radar,” he said.
Lodhi maintained that militaries traditionally used highly trained humans for spying and reconnaissance purposes beyond the enemy lines, but modern technology like drones had radically altered this methodology.
Experts also believe that India’s intrusions into Pakistan’s airspace and unprovoked shelling across the border, especially on civilian population, constitute blatant violations of the November 2003 cease-fire agreement between the two countries.
Air Marshal (r) Shahid Lateef said that India might be checking Pakistan’s professional capability to detect “the smallest” target on radars by sending in the drones.
“We have shown our best professional capabilities to India by shooting down their drones recently. We also destroyed their fighter jets in February last year,” he said.
Lateef maintained that India would note troop movement and bunker positions along the LoC and update their military maps accordingly.
“India has been provoking us for a war through all these tactics, but we are exercising patience and discretion,” he said, urging Prime Minister Imran Khan to launch a diplomatic offensive to expose the “true face” of the neighboring country.
Another military expert, Maj. Gen. (r) Ejaz Awan, said that India had given reconnaissance drones to its forward units deployed along the LoC for spying across the border.
“These are cheap but valuable tools since they collect all the required information and transmit it back in real time,” he said. “The drones also don’t endanger human lives.”
Awan, however, said that military strategies and tactics were not easy to decipher through reconnaissance drones only. “These are cheap tricks, and our armed forces know how to respond to them,” he added.
India using quadcopters to map Pakistan’s border deployments — experts
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India using quadcopters to map Pakistan’s border deployments — experts
- Former military officials believe New Delhi’s approach can lead to greater instability in the region
- The two nuclear-armed states have already experienced escalating tensions after India imposed a lockdown in Kashmir
IMF warns against policy slippage amid weak recovery as it clears $1.2 billion for Pakistan
- Pakistan rebuilt reserves, cut its deficit and slowed inflation sharply over the past one year
- Fund says climate shocks, energy debt, stalled reforms threaten stability despite recent gains
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s economic recovery remains fragile despite a year of painful stabilization measures that helped pull the country back from the brink of default, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Thursday, after it approved a fresh $1.2 billion disbursement under its ongoing loan program.
The approval covers the second review of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of its climate-focused Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), bringing total disbursements since last year to about $3.3 billion.
Pakistan entered the IMF program in September 2024 after years of weak revenues, soaring fiscal deficits, import controls, currency depletion and repeated climate shocks left the economy close to external default. A smaller stopgap arrangement earlier that year helped avert immediate default, but the current 37-month program was designed to restore macroeconomic stability through strict monetary tightening, currency adjustments, subsidy rationalization and aggressive revenue measures.
The IMF’s new review shows that Pakistan has delivered significant gains since then. Growth recovered to 3 percent last year after shrinking the year before. Inflation fell from over 23 percent to low single digits before rising again after this year’s floods. The current account posted its first surplus in 14 years, helped by stronger remittances and a sharp reduction in imports. And the government delivered a primary budget surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP, a key program requirement. Foreign exchange reserves, which had dropped dangerously low in 2023, rose from US$9.4 billion to US$14.5 billion by June.
“Pakistan’s reform implementation under the EFF arrangement has helped preserve macroeconomic stability in the face of several recent shocks,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke said in a statement after the Board meeting.
But he warned that Islamabad must “maintain prudent policies” and accelerate reforms needed for private-sector-led and sustainable growth.
The Fund noted that the 2025 monsoon floods, affecting nearly seven million people, damaging housing, livestock and key crops, and displacing more than four million, have set back the recovery. The IMF now expects GDP growth in FY26 to be slightly lower and forecasts inflation to rise to 8–10 percent in the coming months as food prices adjust.
The review warns Pakistan against relaxing monetary or fiscal discipline prematurely. It urges the State Bank to keep policy “appropriately tight,” allow exchange-rate flexibility and improve communication. Islamabad must also continue raising revenues, broadening the tax base and protecting social spending, the Fund said.
Despite the progress, Pakistan’s structural weaknesses remain severe.
Power-sector circular debt stands at about $5.7 billion, and gas-sector arrears have climbed to $11.3 billion despite tariff adjustments. Reform of state-owned enterprises has slowed, including delays in privatizing loss-making electricity distributors and Pakistan International Airlines. Key governance and anti-corruption reforms have also been pushed back.
The IMF welcomed Pakistan’s expansion of its flagship Benazir Income Support Program, which raises cash transfers for low-income families and expands coverage, saying social protection is essential as climate shocks intensify. But it warned that high public debt, about 72 percent of GDP, thin external buffers and climate exposure leave the country vulnerable if reform momentum weakens.
The Fund said Pakistan’s challenge now is to convert short-term stabilization into sustained recovery after years of economic volatility, with its ability to maintain discipline, rather than the size of external financing alone, determining the durability of its gains.
