New Delhi, July 16 (IANS) India on Thursday said the drone Pakistan shot down and alleged to be belonging to India was a Chinese one available off the shelf, and added that Islamabad was trying to shift the blame for ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We have seen the pictures. It looks like a Chinese drone, available off the shelf. It is not of Indian design, not of any unmanned aerial vehicle category held in Indian inventory,” Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said.
There have been at least six violations of the 2003 ceasefire by Pakistan in the past four days.
Giving an account of incidents along the Indio-Pak border, he said a Border Security Force personnel was injured in sniper fire on Wednesday, followed by attack with projectile weapons and mortar shells.
After mortar shells were fired on a village in Akhnoor on Wednesday, the director general of Border Security Force tried to contact his counterpart across the border but there was no response.
India then contacted Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit in New Delhi as well as Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad to contact the Pakistan foreign secretary there.
The Indian side was later told that the firing was initiated by Indian troops and an Indian drone was brought down by Pakistan.
“The Pakistan government sought to shift the blame on India,” the foreign secretary said.
Jaishankar also said that Pakistan, after four days, registered protest over an Indian helicopter flying close to the border.
“The helicopter flight was in connection with an anti-terrorism operation and well within mutually accepted distance from the border,” the Indian foreign secretary said.