The Jammu and Kashmir administration has declared the heavily guarded Raj Bhavan and the civil secretariat office complex in Jammu district as “no-fly zones” for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the move prompted by last month’s attack on the Indian Air Force station and frequent drone sightings.

At least half a dozen districts across Jammu and Kashmir, including Srinagar, have banned the storage, sale or possession of drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles.

Two explosives-laden drones had crashed into the IAF station at Jammu airport on June 27 in what the police believed was the first-ever drone attack in any part of the country. After that, there were other suspicious sightings of UAVs, triggering a security alert.

An order issued by Jammu deputy commissioner Anshul Garg said the “airspace over Raj Bhavan, Jammu, and civil secretariat, Jammu, has been declared as ‘No Fly Zone’ and flying of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) shall be strictly prohibited over and above these premises with immediate effect.

“There shall be complete prohibition on flying of drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over all areas/venues in district Jammu as and when the lieutenant governor is scheduled to visit in connection with holding of events.”

The order said the decision was taken in view of the “security threat posed due to recent trends of carrying out drone attacks by anti-national elements” due to which it became “imperative to initiate necessary security measures for ensuring the safety of air space” over these landmarks. It also said there was immense threat to the lieutenant governor at the hands of anti-national elements, necessitating the action.

The order suggested that drones were free to fly over other landmarks, which is surprising as Jammu is the only district to face a drone attack and sightings of UAVs in the past fortnight and betrays how the government is careful about the public sensitivities in Jammu.

The district administrations of Srinagar and Baramulla in Kashmir and Ramban, Rajouri and Samba in Jammu division have altogether banned all drone activities despite no attacks or sightings.

The administration said that against the backdrop of recent attack on the air force station in Jammu by using drones, it had been apprehended that terrorists might launch attacks with the help of technology like drones and other flying objects.

In an order last week, the Srinagar district administration had imposed a ban on storage, sale, possession, use and transport of UAVs, saying the decision was taken in “view of the security situation apart from concerns of breach of privacy, nuisance and trespass”.

“It is extremely dangerous to let unmanned aerial vehicles to wander around in the skies within the territorial jurisdiction of district Srinagar,” said the order by the district magistrate.

The Srinagar administration has asked people owning drones to deposit them with the police. There was an exemption on their use for government departments but they have to inform the police first.

The drone attack and other sightings have added a dangerous dimension to Kashmir militancy where security forces now need to secure the installations from both air and ground.

4 dead in gunfight

Two army men and two militants died in a gunfight in Jammu’s Rajouri district on Thursday. The slain jawans are Naib Subedar Sreejith M. and Sepoy Maruprolu Jaswanth Reddy. The operation to hunt down a group of infiltrating militants was launched nine days back.