Drones are everywhere, even Amazon is getting into the drone business for faster delivery. However, if the US online retailer is considering drones for civil use, some countries are now resenting having them hover over their heads. And that would be understandable since most drones in the skies are military, and some are specifically designed to target and kill. The US have become specialists in this field. And unfortunately, Pakistan and Afghanistan have become the preferred targets. As a result, thousands of people rallied in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore Sunday in protest at continued US drone strikes in the country’s troubled northwest. Around 5,000 protesters chanted anti-US slogans and called for an immediate end to the drone strikes at the rally organized by the Defence of Pakistan Council (DPC), a coalition of around 40 religious groups. DPC chief Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, in a televised address to the rally, said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had come under US pressure and was not expected to play a positive role in getting the drone strikes stopped. He appealed to all political parties, religious scholars and members of civil society to unite against the attacks.

Since 2004 the United States has carried out hundreds of drone missile attacks on suspected militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. But at the same time, hundreds of civilians have died in the attacks, according to various estimates, prompting outrage in Pakistan and abroad. And this is in this context that Iran unveiled a missile-equipped drone with a range of 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles), the official IRNA news agency reported. “The Fotros drone has an operational range of 2,000 kilometres and can fly at an altitude of 25,000 feet, with a flight time of 16 to 30 hours,” Defence Minister Mohammad Dehgan was quoted as saying. Dehgan said the new drone could carry out reconnaissance missions or launch air-to-surface missile strikes. This of course will expectantly increase tensions in the Middle East, and Israel will be one step closer to striking Iran on its own. Most will argue that drones are a good thing, as they avoid added casualties and they can be specifically targeted. But interestingly, the pilots are now also starting to complain. The reason mainly is that they don’t feel they are at war, when they are effectively engaging in acts of war. Some pilots in Nevada have complained that they are losing touch with the reality of what they do because they can’t see or feel the results of their actions. It should be known that pilots can fly the drones like going to the office. Some are safe in the US, stopping at Starbucks for coffee before going to work, and then flying the drone, sometimes killing a target, and then going back home at the end of the day, sipping a beer by the pool. Most army men would imagine it to be the perfect way to fight, but these pilots do not, because their job is too virtual. How about that ?