India, Pakistan engaged in first drone war of South Asia, says war veteran Maj Gen DD Singh

India and Pakistan are engaged in the first drone war of the South Asia region, says war veteran Maj Gen DD Singh, 87, Vishisht Seva Medal. It has set a precedent with experts opining that the forces which master drone warfare would dominate the battlefield, he says.

Having fought in the 1962 India-China, 1965 India-Pakistan wars and insurgency in the North East, he said nuclear armed neighbours were currently locked in drone war.

Nearly a fortnight after the Pahalgam terror massacre, India retaliated with a barrage of missiles to dismantle terror infrastructure across the border. In response, Pakistan launched a wave of drone and missile attacks at cities across North India.

“It is a new method of fighting in which instead of having pitched battles on the frontline you just hop over and attack enemy targets inside its territory,” says the war veteran. “Certainly, all you are doing is providing the permanent defence. Instead of troops going inside the enemy territory your job is being done by missiles and drones,” he says.

“The current drone war cannot be described as a star war, the term used by late US President Ronald Regan for the future war. There is no comparison of star war in which warranted action is taken at a high elevation, with the drone warfare which is much below level of the sky,” he says.

The Maj General, who had retired in 1994 after a distinguished military career, commended the Narendra Modi government for launching a strike at terror infrastructure across the border after the Pahalgam attack on innocent tourists in front of their family members. “It is the best way to inflict damages at the enemy infrastructure, while ensuring minimum casualty of our men. For this, it is the best option the Prime Minister opted,” he says.

“The way Pakistan is attacking civilian and military installations at night shows desperation of its political establishment,” he says.

“This kind of war will become a new norm in the future. Instead of hitting the enemy at the border and suffering casualty, just go over and hit the opponent,” said the Maj General who had once headed the Mhow Infantry School.

“I don’t think the war will last long. Pakistan does not have the means to fight for long. Sooner or later it will buckle,” he says.

Amritsar