DJI Mavic, Air and Mini Drones
Friendly, Helpful & Knowledgeable Community
Join Us Now

Regulations in Pakistan

Cahd

Active Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2016
Messages
41
Reactions
103
Hello,
I‘m planning to go to Pakistan and thinking about taking the Mini 2 with me. I don‘t want to fly in the cities, only in the mountains. It‘s hard to find information on the Internet about the regulations. Does anyone have more information or maybe experience?
Thank you in advance!
 
There don’t seem to be any.
Recommend contacting them or their consulate to avoid problems entering the country or using the drone/photographing illegally.
 
Well I've traveled through Pakistan but it was a very long time ago. I had a good trip.

You don't have to be a genius to know that it could be risky flying up near the Afghan border (NW, the Peshawar region).

There are far too many politics in play and your harmless intentions could easily be misunderstood. Personally I'd leave it at home.
 
There don’t seem to be any.
Recommend contacting them or their consulate to avoid problems entering the country or using the drone/photographing illegally.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME

In my experience with the following countries, it a total waste of your time to try to get permits to fly legally. There is so much difficult in communicating, finding the proper application forms, paying a fee, and general communication, that I have virtually decided to go rogue. I have spends HOURS on these countries, all of which never gave me a permit, never wrote me back, never communicated with me, etc.

1. United Arab Emirates (Abut Dhabi, Dubai)
2. Oman
3. Zambia
4. Madagascar
5. Kenya
6. Tanzania
7. Pakistan- pre-drone days

I am presently in my 3rd month of trying with No 5 and 6 on this list- probably is not gonna happen.

I finally wound up taking my Mavic 1 Air to Zambia and Madagascar. No problem at Zambian customs, but was not allowed to use it in Zambia (the safari camp owner absolutely refused).

In Madagascar, no problems whatsoever. Flew where I wanted, and nobody said a thing. Had to cancel trip to UAE,Oman due to Covid. Copious applications and letters all went unanswered.

For upcoming Tanzania and Kenya trip (September), I am thinking of buying the Mini 2 and just carrying it along, just in case. I can afford to have it confiscated. I will not buy the fly more package and I already have a $200 credit on Amazon for returned merchandise. So $499-$200 credit= $300.00 loss if confiscated.

And oh by the way, I did a 2 week guided driving trip in Northern Pakistan (Karakoram Highway) all the way up to the Chinese border and 50 miles from Afghanistan; It was the wildest place my wife and I have ever been. Crude, unsanitary hotels, rough roads, and the soldiers and police take no crap. You are likely to be jailed, if not kidnapped and ransomed.

The country is wild and open and vast in the north of Pakistan.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: rehkram
First of all, thank you all for your replies.

I've seen a lot of videos on YouTube where people used a drone in the places I want to go to as well.
Obviously you don't know if these flights have been illegal or not.
I will be on a trekking trip and far away from the Indian border and the border to Chines lies on huge mountains.

For upcoming Tanzania and Kenya trip (September), I am thinking of buying the Mini 2 and just carrying it along, just in case. I can afford to have it confiscated. I will not buy the fly more package and I already have a $200 credit on Amazon for returned merchandise. So $499-$200 credit= $300.00 loss if confiscated.

My thinking is the same. If they confiscate the Mini 2, I would obviously not be pleased, but it wouldn't be a huge deal as the trip is already quite expensive. As long as you aren't getting bigger troubles. Also the Mini 2 looks more like a toy, which could be a benefit.

And oh by the way, I did a 2 week guided driving trip in Northern Pakistan (Karakoram Highway) all the way up to the Chinese border and 50 miles from Afghanistan; It was the wildest place my wife and I have ever been. Crude, unsanitary hotels, rough roads, and the soldiers and police take no crap. You are likely to be jailed, if not kidnapped and ransomed.

The country is wild and open and vast in the north of Pakistan.

I know that some places should be avoided in Pakistan. But it seems that Pakistan is safer than what most people think. I just heard a podcast about two people travelling all over the country and they did not have any issue and the friendliness of the locals seems to be outstanding compared to what they experienced in other countries.
 
First of all, thank you all for your replies.

I've seen a lot of videos on YouTube where people used a drone in the places I want to go to as well.
Obviously you don't know if these flights have been illegal or not.
I will be on a trekking trip and far away from the Indian border and the border to Chines lies on huge mountains.



My thinking is the same. If they confiscate the Mini 2, I would obviously not be pleased, but it wouldn't be a huge deal as the trip is already quite expensive. As long as you aren't getting bigger troubles. Also the Mini 2 looks more like a toy, which could be a benefit.



I know that some places should be avoided in Pakistan. But it seems that Pakistan is safer than what most people think. I just heard a podcast about two people travelling all over the country and they did not have any issue and the friendliness of the locals seems to be outstanding compared to what they experienced in other countries.
I spent about 30 minutes after writing to you looking for my old pictures of our Pakistan trip. Unfortunately, that was in the days of regular slide film (1990) and not digital and my only record is a DVD that I made. If you are going up north, near Gilgit (where we started from- e.g.: Karachi>Islamabad>Gilgit) the country is very wild. There are millions of miles of open spaces. The Karakorams and the Baltoro Glacier and Mt. Rakaposhi (spectacular) are great vistas for the drone. Once you get the little Mavic Mini 2 past the customs guy, I think you would have it made. We drove from Gilgit northwards on treacherous roads, only enough for one vehicle. Now the Chinese Belt and Road program has constructed a gorgeous highway. We drove up from Gilgit-Hunza, Karimabad, through Sost- Mt. Rakaposhi- Khungerab Pass. You can find all of this on Google maps. Just Google the term, Gilgit.
As usual, I never fly when there are officials around. Most of the time, you will be on deserted roads.

My goal would be to get the drone through customs, sacrifice it if need be, and stay out of jail.

On the positive side, the Pakistani people are the warmest and most wonderful people you can find. They opened their homes to us. offered us yoghurt (my wife actually ate it), and other Goodies such as sun dried tomatoes from the roof tops of villagers in the Hunza Valley.
 
Getting it through customs is one thing. Dealing with locals, both officials and non officials, in far flung reaches of the country is another. I could tell you several stories but I won't.

Well maybe just one story. Like I said before I had a good trip through the country, from Landi Kotal on the NW Frontier down to the Indian border. After getting off the bus at the eastern end of the Khyber Pass after a month in Kabul I wandered off into the desert, following a camp fire light.

I ended up sipping mint tea at night with Pathan shepherds. All of them were slinging Lee Enfield rifles. In those days the rifles were to protect their flocks. They were great, it was awesome, and that was in 1974. My how times have changed.

My final thought is this. Don't say I didn't warn you. And if you do get in trouble don't blame the locals for being paranoid about drones.
 
Last edited:
Hi Chad,
Greetings from Pakistan!

So far there are no such written law/regulations available in the country for drones like other countries have. Although there are restrctions on some places like any other country has. (i.e: near airports, cantonment areas, any government porperty, there are also some Nothern areas where drone use is prohabbited like near India, Afghan or Iran border). So, it depends that in which area you want to fly the drone. If you could tell me the name of areas where you are planning to visit, then I might be able to help you more about it.
There could be a lil problem on the customs if you are travelling with some big drones like Inspire or Phantom but as you have Mavic Mini which looks like a toy so I think this wont be a problem by taking it with you.

Regards,
SK
 
Hi guys,
sorry for not having answered. In the end I left the drone at home.
As we were most of the time above 5000m, I guess the Mini 2 would have been too weak anyways.
So far I've only flown it at 3400m.

@Dale D
I hope you've found your pictures. Quite a trip you did back then. Unfortunately we could not visit the Hunza Valley, but the Baltoro Glacier made up for it. Pakistan is a beautiful country with great people, food and scenery.

@shahbaz khan
Most of the time we've been on the Baltoro Glacier. I spoke to our liaison officer about flying drones there and according to him it's not a problem as long as you don't take pictures or videos from the Army camps. There was another guy, who flew his drone from Basecamp to Camp 1 to check if his tent was alright. But that was some bigger DJI drone.

Have a great weekend!
 

DJI Drone Deals

New Threads

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
130,599
Messages
1,554,244
Members
159,603
Latest member
refrigasketscanada