Pakistan secretly drone-attacking its own territories as it battles Islamist groups, says report

During a recent brief military confrontation with India, Pakistan deployed drones to target civilian areas in Jammu and Kashmir, showing off their high-tech weapons.

However, this show of force is just the surface of a much deeper and long-running drone campaign within Pakistan’s own borders, according to a report by The New York Times.

For years, Pakistan has been using drones to monitor and strike suspected terrorist targets in its tribal and border regions. While these operations are aimed at neutralising militant threats, they have reportedly resulted in significant collateral damage, including civilian casualties, added the report.

Although Pakistani officials maintain that drone operations have become more effective and precise in recent years, a growing number of incidents suggest a starkly different reality on the ground.

Earlier this year, Pakistani Security Forces launched a drone strike on what they described as a terrorist hideout in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, reportedly eliminating several “high-value” targets. Yet, the attack also claimed civilian lives, with provincial authorities indicating that women and children were among the casualties.

Just weeks later, a suspected drone strike injured at least 20 people gathered to watch a volleyball match in Lower South Waziristan, a volatile district bordering Afghanistan. The incident raised renewed concerns about the risks to non-combatants in the region.

In a separate incident last month, four children were reportedly killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan, further fueling criticism over the human cost of Pakistan’s domestic counterterrorism campaign, reported NYT.

Officials blamed the Pakistani Taliban for the attack, but the political opposition condemned it as a consequence of the government’s flawed security strategy, the report added

Pakistan is one of four countries actively deploying drones against terrorist threats within its own borders, alongside Iraq, Nigeria, and Turkey.

Despite the growing use of unmanned aerial strikes, the Pakistani government has yet to officially acknowledge the role drones play in its counterinsurgency efforts, the report said.

Pakistan steps up online defence

Pakistani security officials are becoming increasingly vocal online in an apparent effort to counter criticism of the country’s drone campaign, according to The New York Times report.

A series of unverified videos, widely circulated on social media by pro-military accounts, appear to showcase drone strikes targeting alleged militants.

One viral clip shows armed men, identified by officials as Pakistani Taliban fighters, attempting to breach a barbed-wire perimeter at night before being hit by a drone strike. Officials claim the footage was recorded in 2024.

Another video reportedly shows a drone strike targeting Taliban-linked operatives in a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a restive region bordering Afghanistan.

While the authenticity of the footage has yet to be independently confirmed, NYT reported that the Pakistani government is actively supporting this digital campaign, using it to bolster public support for drone operations and push back against allegations of civilian casualties.

US drone campaign in Pakistan

For many years, the US conducted drone strikes inside Pakistan that targeted Al Qaeda, the Pakistani Taliban, and affiliated groups.

The first known US strike took place in 2004, in which a prominent Taliban commander, Nek Muhammad, died.

According to the NYT report, the George Bush administration had allowed 48 drone strikes in Pakistan, while Barack Obama authorised 353.

The last recorded drone strike in the Pakistan borders by the US was in 2016, in which the chief of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was killed, added the report.

US President Donald Trump had reportedly ordered 13 strikes in Pakistan during his first term.

However, no drone strikes by the US were reported after 2018.

Pakistan and terrorism

Pakistan was placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in June 2018, a designation for countries identified as safe havens for terror financing and money laundering.

At the time, Pakistan was criticized for lacking a comprehensive and coordinated, risk-based strategy to tackle these issues. In response, FATF issued a 34-point action plan, urging Islamabad to implement it by the end of 2019. However, the deadline was extended due to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between 2020 and 2022, Pakistan introduced a series of reforms, strengthening its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing frameworks. In September 2022, FATF conducted an on-site inspection to assess Pakistan’s progress and confirmed that the country had met the requirements.

Subsequently, in October 2022, Pakistan was officially removed from the grey list.

Reacting to the development, India emphasized that Pakistan must continue to take “credible, verifiable, irreversible” action against terrorism, underscoring lingering regional concerns despite FATF’s decision.

With inputs from agencies