Pakistani Media Drones Provide Live Coverage of PTI-PAT Sit-in Protest

[Riaz Haq]

Since tens of thousands of supporters of Imran Khan and Allama Tahir ul Qadri marched into Islamabad a few days ago, there have been continuous live aerial images and spectacular videos of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf's and Pakistan Awami Tehrik's massive but peaceful sit-in protests broadcast directly from Islamabad by several Pakistani TV channels. This breathtaking live drone camera coverage of  a major media event has made drone journalism history in the South Asian country of over 180 million people.

There are few examples of such mainstream media coverage using drones. One example is when Australia's Nine Networks 60 Minutes program used  an unmanned aerial vehicle to broadcast images of  a vast immigration detention camp set up by the Australian government away from the eyes of the media. Paparazzi, too, use drones but such activity is often illegal and frowned upon by the mainstream media.

The Punjab government banned the use of media drones in Lahore where the PTI and PAT rallies originated before converging on Islamabad. “We have banned the use of helicams/drone cameras after the Ministry of Defence has informed us in writing that the use of such flying devices by anyone except the authorised state agencies is already banned under certain rules and regulations related to civil aviation, etc,” District Coordination Officer retired Capt Muhammad Usman told Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

In Islamabad, however, there have been half a dozen drones in the air covering the combined PTI-PAT dharna (sit-in) round the clock for the last several days. “We were stopped from using these machines yesterday to cover the placement of the containers because the authorities have become sensitive about it,” says Nadeem Ihsan, senior manager (technical) of Samaa TV, which says it used the drone camera the first time in Islamabad during the coverage of the PTI’s earlier public gathering at D-Chowk on May 11.

Pakistani authorities remain cautious about the growing use of these new drones. “We are concerned that the number of these drones may increase to an unlimited level and that would be alarming. We need to make rules to control this technology,” a senior administration official said.

Silicon Valley's Venturebeat publication cites the following additional recent examples of drone usage for reporting:

1. In December 2011, a Fair Elections rally in Moscow used a remote-control model helicopter to get government-independent aerial photos of the crowd.

2. In summer of 2013, a drone videotaped a police clash at a demonstration in Istanbul. The drone was reportedly later shot down, apparently by police.

3. In March 2014, a business systems expert shot half an hour of aerial video in East Harlem after a gas explosion demolished two buildings.

4. CNN has an ongoing request for crowdsourced drone aerial footage.

5. Using drone imagery, Wake Forest University created a 3D model of Duke Energy’s coal ash spill in North Carolina, independent of the utility-favoring state regulators.

6. Drone maker DJI has demonstrated spectacular video of its Phantom drone flying into a volcano in the Tanna island of Vanuatu.

7. In 2012, a camera drone flying near Dallas discovered blood-red spots in the Trinity River. It turned out that pig blood was being emptied via an underground pipe from the Columbia Meat packing plant, located on a creek that feeds into the river. The company was indicted on 18 criminal counts, and a trial is pending.

The civilian drones are coming. Some drone makers would like to see them swarming the skies soon. But  others are horrified at the prospect of so many drones flying overhead. Before the drone usage becomes widespread, there will have to be reasonable regulations in place to address safety and privacy concerns of the public at large.

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[Riaz Haq]

Geo News, Pakistan’s most popular news channel, is in the process of experimenting with 2 DJI Phantoms, plans for which call for assisting in gathering footage for the network. They are described as “commercially available Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,” or, in other words, unarmed drones.

While his counterparts in America are compromised by FAA regulation, Geo Online editor and de-facto drone pilot Shaheryar Popalzai had first-hand experience with the technology in March.

“It's only a matter of time before news (organizations) understand the benefits of using UAVS, and how they can help with the news,” he says.

For GEO News, which suffered an attack on its prominent anchor, Hamid Mir, last weekend, drones offer safety and the ability to cover topics in greater detail. When the network dispatched a team to the Tharparkar district of Sindh to cover a drought, producers sent Shaheryar Popalzai as a drone pilot. When the segment aired in early April, it was the first of its kind.

“UAVs could be really good for us,” concludes Popalzai

National disasters such as the drought in Sindh are often reported with a lack of visuals, according to Popalzai. When it comes to conveying the living conditions of those affected, he says Pakistani news segments rely too heavily on statistics, sound bytes from officials, and stock visuals to tell a story.

“Our main aim when we took the UAV out there was to show how far and isolated these people are,” says Popalzai. Actual footage of the affected areas has been in short supply. Networks have been airing the Pakistani government’s officially sanctioned footage, which focuses on aid packages being dropped out of a helicopter, but that leaves out those affected by the famine, and most of the landscape in which they live.

The team in Sindh found that that aid had not reached everyone, and some residents did not even know that aid had been distributed at all. For the viewers unfamiliar with it, the aerial footage helped show the arid salt lands in real-time cartography of the area. Shaheryar maintains that without the UAV, the report may have left out a large chunk of the population

“These communities have been ignored for so long, the only evidence of the government I noticed was political posters," Popalzai said. "But they [locals of interior Sindh] don’t even have electricity, let alone TV. Some villages have mobile towers near them, but they don’t have cell phones.”

While a significant portion of Pakistan’s population lives in such a manner (the world bank estimated 63 percent in 2012), they remain disconnected from the remainder who live in the country’s urban centers—which are among the largest in the world. For the handful of journalists and filmmakers who use drones in Pakistan, using them to cover urban issues still poses a risk.

“Whoever is flying it has to be within range and this can mean they have to be in the open. Once you’re done shooting you need to land the UAV as well, making yourself vulnerable when you’re done landing and picking it up,” Shaheryar says.

In 2012, the Pakistani news channel Capital TV sent 20-something Shehzad Hameed to cover Imran Khan’s election rally at Liaqat Bagh, a garden in the city of Rawalpindi. He was given a satellite backpack that created a 3G wifi network to download footage in real time, from an aerial drone.

“Compared to our usual satellite van, there were less hassles involved with setting up a live feed in a congested place. All the technology was in my backpack,” Hameed says. There was, however, a technical oversight.

“Pakistan is not the coldest country in the world. After one hour of getting great footage, the backpack over-heated,” he says. “We had to leave it under a tree to cool down.” In the end, they had to rely on their older, trusted satellite van to provide live footage. The experiment was not the success his channel was looking for.



http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-drones-might-save-p 

[Riaz Haq]

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had “solid information” about the alleged involvement of former DG ISI Lt Gen (retd) Zaheerul Islam in the 2014 ‘Dharna’ show to destabilise the government yet he avoided proceeding against the spymaster to avoid any civil-military tension, it has been learnt.

Credible government sources told The News that the prime minister, in the presence of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, had directed the-then DG ISI Gen Zaheer to get the situation defused but he did otherwise.

These sources said that the PM had also discussed this situation with the army chief General Raheel Sharif, who unlike the former spymaster has been fully cooperative with the government and did not support any move to destabilise the elected constitutional government.

During those days, some of Nawaz Sharif’s associates had advised him to proceed against Zaheerul Islam but he exercised maximum restraint and remained patient. According to one source, the PM was of the view that his action against Gen Zaheer might increase uncertainty to the advantage of those who wanted to dent the democratic and constitutional rule.

Although, much was speculated by the media including a report saying that the army chief had sought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s resignation, in reality General Raheel has been fully cooperative in helping to defuse the tension and bringing the situation back to normal.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had recently named the former DG ISI for his alleged role in destabilising the Nawaz Sharif government through the PAT-PTI sit-ins.Khawaja Asif said that General Zaheer had pushed up the ‘London Plan’ conspiracy against the government. In a TV interview, the minister said that the 2014 London Plan against the Nawaz Sharif government was the work of two former ISI chiefs — Lt General (retd) Shuja Pasha and Lt Gen (retd) Zaheerul Islam.

According to the defence minister, Gen Zaheer had a grudge against the government for its stance on the Geo issue. To settle his personal grudge, Khawaja said, Gen Zaheer had hurt the national interest. Khawaja, however, said that the situation was handled well by the prime minister, who remained patient.

In September last year, Reuters had also reported that weeks of mounting anti-government protests in Pakistan had been enough to convince five of the powerful Lt Generals (believed to have retired now) that it was time for them to step in and force the embattled Nawaz Sharif to resign.

The five corps commanders were though not named by the Reuters, it was claimed that top generals had met in the garrison city of Rawalpindi at the end of August as demonstrations raged in Islamabad.

It was reported, “At the tense four-hour conclave, Pakistan’s democratic process was once again in peril, with the military pondering another intervention in a country that has seen power change hands more often through coups than elections.”

Reuters further said, “But army chief Raheel Sharif decided the time was not right to overthrow the civilian leadership, and moved to quell any disagreement in his ranks by overruling the hawks and declaring the crisis must be solved through politics, not force.”

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-38764-Nawaz-had-solid-info...

[Riaz Haq]

#Pakistan Prime Minister #ImranKhan approves establishment of Civil #Drone Authority to regulate the use of drones and also boost local production | Pakistan – Gulf News
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/pakistan/pakistan-prime-minister-im...


Developing a policy framework for the adoption and management of drones is essential for businesses, agriculture, research and development, and other areas, said Khan.

The new drone authority would not only fill the regulatory void but would also be instrumental in the promotion and domestic production of drones. “Efficient use of drone technology will help improve utilization of resources and service levels,” the premier said. He urged to speed up the formation of the organization after the cabinet’s approval.

Pakistan’s first drone regulatory authority will supervise and implement several regulations related to unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones including licensing or drone permits, import, local manufacturing of drones and develop the standards for drone production, operations, training, research and development. It would also provide guidance for operating and flying drones to ensure public safety. The authority would also be empowered to undertake enforcement actions through warnings, fines and imprisonment.

The new organization would be headed by secretary aviation division Shoukat Ali and would comprise of top officers from Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Ministry of Defence Production, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Science and Technology and representatives from each federating units. Three independent experts, whose names have not been decided yet, would also be part of the organization.


The public safety and national security challenges posed by unmanned aircraft demand a strong regulatory framework. Experts have welcomed Pakistan government’s drone regulation move but some believe that the country needed a ‘drone policy not an authority.’

“There is no reason to have a separate drone authority when civil aviation authority already exists. Drones are unmanned aircraft and that comes under aviation authority” Mosharraf Zaidi, public policy professional, told Gulf News. He says that a new organization with a few high-paying jobs could add a significant burden on the national exchequer. More importantly, “the new body would make the execution of public policy and regulation less coherent and more open to misuse”, he said.

The policy is seen as the first step towards building the drone industry in a country where the import of drones is practically banned due to security concerns. Experts say the regulation would help Pakistan tap into the commercial drone market, which is expected to touch US$43 billion by 2025 with an annual 20 per cent growth rate.



Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry described the development as a new “milestone” and said that the ministry’s current focus is agricultural and police drones. Pakistan’s police recently started using drones to ensure public safety and the country also utilized locally developed drones to fight the locust attack.

Incentives for private firms
Pakistani drone manufacturers insist the federal government must encourage the private sector by offering direct support and tax incentives to develop the local industry and attract foreign investments and joint ventures.

“Pakistan is missing out on a huge potential to build its drone industry due to excessive red tape and high custom duties” Imran Wazeer, the COO of ABM SATUMA, a private company with two decades of drone manufacturing and integrated technologies experience, told Gulf News.

The private sector has been at the forefront of developing drone technologies with the support of government all over the world, he said

[Riaz Haq]

PAKISTAN’S SILENT DRONE REVOLUTION
A generation of #engineers and students are engaged in efforts to develop & build civil #drones for #Pakistan. Civilian drone apps include #infrastructure inspection, #delivery business, #mapping, #agriculture & #mining. https://tribune.com.pk/story/2331335/pakistans-silent-drone-revolution

https://twitter.com/haqsmusings/status/1465025303584010241?s=20


The last two decades have reshaped the technological landscape of the world perhaps more drastically than any other time in history. The digital revolution, which perhaps began not that remarkably in the second half of the previous century, has evolved and expanded exponentially. Once seen as novelties for the well off, electronic items like smart devices and digital cameras have now become integral to daily life.

But while new generation of upgrades in these gadgets, smartphones and laptops hog most public attention, the civilian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone has gone through a silent but drastic evolution of its own. The world over, these miniature flying machines are now an essential tool in the kit of various industries. Thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, their immense utility is now clearer than ever before.

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In July 2020, the government of Pakistan shared plans to formulate a National Drone Policy and in March 2021, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced creation of Civil Drone Authority to regulate unmanned aircraft in Pakistan.

Ikram highlighted that the National Drone Policy needed a three pronged approach.

“Firstly, it should enable the growth of UAV industry in the country by turning it economical to design and manufacture UAVs in Pakistan as opposed to importing them,” he said. “Secondly, it should provide a practical framework for authorisation of UAV flying in coordination with CAA and other stakeholders.”

Finally, he added that it should enable the formation of UAV ports and training centers so that our next generation is in step with rest of the world.

Many stakeholders term absence of approval of drone policy a major hurdle in growth of the drone industry in Pakistan.

Giving details of the National Drone Policy, Siddiqui said that it would demand licensing of drone because the government needed to know who is flying them and for what purpose.

“This will curb smuggling and increase legitimate businesses which is a good thing for the industry,” he said. “Following implementation of the policy, local and international drone dealers in Pakistan would be encouraged with the passage of time.”

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Raza Sabri, who is involved in production of customised drones for defence forces and the government, agreed that the market of non-combat drones in Pakistan was quite visible and it was growing day after day. According to him, the most prominent civilian applications of drone included land survey, mapping, agriculture use and mining.

He appreciated that the revenue earned by his company from non-combat drones was rising as well given the rapid adoption of service drones in Pakistan. Sabri added that his enterprise was exploring this segment and at this point, the potential of such machines in Pakistan was extremely strong.

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According to Sabri, the biggest hurdle to the drone ecosystem was the absence of a dedicated policy to regulate drones. “Massive amount of work was done in this area and the government took a huge amount of stakeholders, including us, on board however the federal cabinet has not ratified it yet,” Sabri elaborated. “Until the policy takes effect, the arrangement of drone components and usage of drones will remain a huge challenge in Pakistan.”