Islamabad, Aug 2 (IANS) The increasing number of drone attacks in several provinces of Pakistan is destroying the favourite myth of its regime, about military domination guaranteeing security, a report said, detailing the evolving situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
“During the first twelve days of July 2026 alone, at least ten quadcopter attacks were reported, leaving nine people dead and fifty-one injured. Since the beginning of the year, Pakistan’s tribal regions have recorded at least sixty such incidents, with thirty-six fatalities and more than 178 wounded,” a report by Stringer Asia said.
Because of its cost effectiveness and accessibility, the technology has spread quickly and been adopted by Pakistan’s fragmented war zones. These consumer drones can carry small explosives, conduct recon on troop movements and attack checkpoints.
“This pattern is now familiar. Civilians are killed. Local communities accuse the state. The state denies involvement. No independent investigation follows. No chain of command is examined. No officer is prosecuted. No family receives an explanation. Pakistan’s military has perfected the politics of unverifiable violence. The same institution that controls access to conflict zones, intimidates journalists and criminalises dissent then points to the absence of independently collected evidence as proof of its innocence,” the report emphasised.
According to it, the environment in which this technology now thrives was manufactured by Pakistan’s security establishment through decades.
“It armed militant organisations, divided them into useful and hostile categories, tolerated sanctuaries when they served foreign-policy objectives and unleashed military operations when yesterday’s proxies became inconvenient. The quadcopter is merely the latest instrument in a conflict created by the same institution now presenting itself as its victim,” the report noted.
Quadcopters are being deployed against police and security installations by militants because the state has failed to control the weapons, networks and territory through which the insurgency operates.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s police chief Zulfiqar Hameed acknowledged in March 2025 that militants possessed modern equipment, including American weapons and drones, while the police lacked adequate counter-quadcopter technology. The admission was extraordinary. After decades of counterterrorism funding, military operations and international assistance, Pakistan’s provincial police were confronting inexpensive commercial drones without the equipment needed to stop them,” the report said.
These flying grenades were bought online, modified in a workshop and sent over villages, resulting in an undeclared drone war where militants attack police stations and security forces bomb suspected hideouts while civilians bury their children and the state denies responsibility.
“The quadcopter war is therefore not simply a tactical evolution. It is the perfect symbol of the Pakistani regime: inexpensive violence descending from above, ambiguous chains of responsibility, civilians trapped between militants and the Army, and a state that demands unlimited authority while refusing to account for its failures,” stressed the report from Stringer Asia.
–IANS
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