ISLAMABAD – Pakistan may soon start receiving unarmed drone aircraft, known as Shadow drones from the US as both the allied nations in anti-terrorism global campaign are moving forward in the parleys being held for the purpose.
The US made known its plan to provide Pakistan with around a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) back in January 2010 during the visit of US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to Islamabad. The US authorities believe that the Shadow drones would help bolster Pakistan’s military as it takes on Taliban militants.
“‘Since then, Islamabad and Washington have been engaged in consultations on the vital issue and off late the two sides have made substantial progress in this regard,” a diplomatic source said on Wednesday. He said the Shadow drones were smaller to the armed Predator and Reaper aircraft, which were normally used by the American CIA in the Tribal Areas on suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban hideouts.
According to the official, Pakistan’s initial response to the offer was not positive as it had been demanding the provision of armed drones for long, saying Islamabad could use them against terrorists in a more effective way.
“Pakistani authorities told the US officials that they already had superior quality UAVs, which they had upgraded, and were in use.
However, as the talks on the important matter went on, the situation started changing as the Pakistani security circles thought it was no harm to have more spy planes to be used for monitoring the activities of terrorists in the tribal regions,” the official said.
When contacted, a security official said the provision of UAVs by Washington would help a lot in the country’s fight against terrorism. He said India had been nervous about the development and had objected to the US but were overruled.
