Early morning on June 27, two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) loaded with explosives crashed into the Jammu station of the Indian Air force.
The crash caused minor damage to the roof of a building in which two IAF personnel sustained minor injuries. The attacks by the UAV vehicles unnerved the Security forces and they imposed banned the use of drones in parts of the Valley. According to the agencies, the UAVs are being used to smuggle weapons and narcotics at the areas nearing the Pakistan border as well as spy on the movement of troops along the border.
With the concern that there could be an increase in drone attacks, authorities banned their use as drones are hard to identify due to their tiny sizes and low flying abilities.
Filma and wedding photographers across the valley were shaken when authorities banned the use of or possession of drones in Srinagar and few other places of Kashmir.
The orders issued by District magistrates of several districts across the Valley stated security reasons and asked those having drone cameras or other kinds of unmanned aerial vehicles to deposit them at the nearest police stations under proper receipts.
Several filmmakers and wedding photographers based in Kashmir have already languished under long lockdowns in Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370 and subsequent Covid-19 lockdowns. Now with the ban on the use or possession of drones by authorities, they are alarmed that their businesses and livelihoods are being struck.
On speaking to The Kashmiriyat Imad Ur Rehman, a Srinagar-based Vlogger and commercial filmmaker said that there is a ban on the use of drones all over the world, but no country entirely bans the use of drones.
He also stated that there were certain regions designated as flying and non-flying zones. And that the drone operators such as filmmakers and vloggers are provided with proper licenses on registering their drone, and then only are they authorized to use or possess drones.
“I have completed all the legal formalities required for the possession or use of drones from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, India, and submitted the required documents at the concerned Police station. I mainly used my drone at offbeat places and on commercial shoots. Due to the recent ban, I am bound to cancel all my scheduled projects,” said Imad.
He continued to say, “We live in a place where we already have less business opportunities, vloggers and other commercial filmmakers used to earn their livelihood, but now with the ban we are left with no source of income.”
“If a person illegally uses his drone, we can’t blame everyone and ban the use of drones”.
He added, “We possess basic drones which are incapable of carrying payloads which cause damage. The authorities here should create such provisions that allow the licensed users to use their drones for their projects involving aerial photography with proper verification.”
“I was busy in making preparations for my scheduled projects and suddenly received a call from my friend about the drone ban” said Umer Nazir- a commercial filmmaker and wedding photographer from Srinagar.
“I have my drone registered and it is licensed. I used to operate my drone wherever necessary after the proper permission from the concerned officials. The ones with properly licensed drones should be allowed to use them after proper verification and guidelines,” expressed Umer.
He said that he has spent a lot of hard-earned money on his filmmaking start-up but this drone ban is bound to land him in a huge loss. It also happens to be the peak season of weddings in Kashmir and several wedding projects were scheduled. But they have been canceled because the drones cannot be operated anymore.
“I also had to cancel a project in collaboration with a filmmaker from outside the Valley, for which I was getting a handsome money. The authorities should come out with a proper solution to this problem so that our work doesn’t suffer,” Umer said.
While the COVID lockdown in the world of two years disrupted lives and finances, Kashmir, the most militarized zone in a disputed state with over three years lockdown has devastated lives. Economy, tourism, and trade have been shattered, people have lost jobs and languishing in a myriad of distresses, the new drone attack, with banning the use of drones from licensed users has added to it all. In fact, the government should make a provision for licensed filmmakers and bloggers to use their drones for their projects under proper guidelines and should not ban the use of drones completely or this will destroy the livelihood of people.