The Indian Air Force (IAF) scrambled fighter jets after radars detected a Pakistani drone and some aircraft near the international border in Punjab. The incident took place on Monday in the Khemkaran sector of Punjab as IAF scrambled its Sukhoi Su-30 and Mirage-2000 fighter jets from the Halwara airbase to repulse the Pakistani adventurism, although there was no airspace violation from both sides.
Ever since the Balakot airstrikes following the deadly Pulwama terror attack, the IAF is on heavy alert. Entire Pakistan is on edge since IAF bombed Jaish terror camps deep inside Pakistan. As tensions between the two countries escalated, Pakistan even closed its airspace for nearly a month, which was finally opened on March 26 this year. The tensions had also resulted in Pakistan deploying its entire navy and broadcasting citizen advisory.
This is not the first time Pakistan has tried to violate Indian airspace. Indian air defence systems have earlier shot down several Pakistani drones trying to intrude into the Indian territory. Indian forces shot down a Pakistani drone on March 9 as it tried to enter Indian air space in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan.
In a similar case, the IAF shot down a Pakistani military drone using an air-to-air missile in the Bikaner sector of the India-Pakistan border on March 4. On February 27, a Pakistani drone was targeted by the Indian defence forces, again in the Bikaner sector, while trying to enter Indian air space.
The recent reports of Pakistani adventurism show the intentions of the neighbouring country. The presence of a drone is also an indication of them being inquisitive of the deployment of the Indian troops along the borders. Although it is unclear if the Pakistani jets were trying to intrude into Indian airspace on Monday, however, the alertness of the IAF forced the Pak jets to back off.
The decision of closing the airspace brought a significant strain on the air traffic with flights taking longer routes. The instilled fear by the Imran Khan government took a toll on the economy by reducing its air rent and hence the country stood devoid of an important financial inflow. The Pakistani government stands with GDP of 315 USD and clearly is not in the situation of putting any further pressure on the treasury, losing its F16 fighter plane being a major loss.
The ongoing tensions between the two countries and the sense of fear among the Pakistani establishment have put a significant strain on its already fragile economy. Yet, the ongoing adventures by Pakistan somewhere does not align with its agenda of financially sustaining the economy. Pakistan has rolled its dice and put the economy at risk, further escalations of patrolling and propagating intentions to intrude Indian borders, would strain the ties and prove fatal on the financial part for Pakistan.
