Pakistan mulls peaceful use of drone tech

Technology would help in research in various fields including research and rescue operations

ISLAMABAD:

In order to improve the performance and boost the capabilities, Pakistan mulls over the Drone Regulatory Authority (DRA) for peaceful and effective use of remote-control surveillance technology in various fields.

The DRA would allow the drone technology to be used for different purposes such as research in different fields, assist in restoration of peace, search and rescue operations and logistics and agriculture.

On Monday, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Hussain Chaudhry called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and gave a detailed briefing about the drone technology ordinance.

The minister noted that the initiative would help the government in performing its tasks efficiently and ease its workings in different areas.

The decision to form the DRA was taken by the federal government last year.

Chairing a high-level meeting, the premier observed that drone technology would be helpful in agriculture, urban planning, security and law & order.

He had directed the authorities concerned to set up a committee to devise a legislative and regulatory body in this regard.

On September 28, the government had prepared a draft policy for the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) – drones, model aircrafts, quadcopters and balloons – and asked all stakeholders to give their input on the proposed draft in two weeks.

Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that after incorporating the stakeholders’ input, the draft policy would be presented before the federal cabinet for its approval.

The policy covered various uses of such aircraft for entertainment, research, sports, photography and media coverage, industrial, agricultural and other purposes.

The UAV is an aircraft without a human pilot on board and a type of unmanned vehicle. The flight of the UAVs may operate with various degrees of autonomy, either under remote control by a human operator, autonomously by onboard computers or piloted by an autonomous robot.

Meanwhile, the premier on Monday directed the authorities concerned to broaden the scope of their operation against the land mafia in the country.

“PML-N has always provided patronage to the occupiers of government lands,” the premier said while presiding over a meeting of the government officials.

“No one can occupy government land without political patronage,” he added.

In what appeared to be a reference to the demolition of “illegal construction” at PML-N MPA Saiful Malook Khokhar's house a day earlier, PM Imran noted that attempts to reclaim government land were also "surprisingly being termed as political revenge".

On the foreign funding case, the premier stated that “those who trapped us in the foreign funding case are now trapped in it themselves.”

He observed that the government’s position in the election commission proved to be correct and sought a transparent and fair investigation into the Broadsheet matter.

“We will expose everyone who caused loss to the national exchequer,” he said, adding that the opposition was under illusion that they would be able to hide the facts through “propaganda”.