In: Wagner W., Székely, B. (eds.): ISPRS TC VII Symposium - 100 Years ISPRS, Vienna, Austria, July 5-7, 2010, IAPRS, Vol. XXXVIII, Part 7B 
THE ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING IN FIGHTING 
AGAINST TERRORISM- A CASE OF PAKISTAN 
A. Asmat a 
a Survey of Pakistan, Murree Road, Rawalpindi, Pakistan 
Technical Commission VII Symposium 2010 
KEY WORDS: Remote Sensing, Surveying and Mapping, Data Acquisition, Terrorism, Pakistan 
ABSTRACT: 
The use of Remote Sensing (hereafter called RS) in the exploration and monitoring of natural resources inherited by land as well as 
planning and development domains is not innovative and new to the geospatial community. However, benefiting from RS to fight against 
terrorism can be an innovative and a new approach for many countries such as Pakistan and geospatial community working on this most 
significant issue in the current global scenario. The growing number of terrorist attacks in recent years in Pakistan has added a new 
dimension and value to the use of RS data and its analytical capabilities such as pattern recognition in the country. As reliable and timely 
supply of geospatial data is not only needed by security agencies but also by the rescue workers and teams to save loss of human lives. 
But the dilemma is that such data sets are mostly outdated and it is not possible to update these data sets through ground survey 
operations due to law and order situation of the country that started about five years ago and has not ended yet. A possible solution to the 
situation could be to have an intersection of traditional military warfare tactics and making maximum use of geospatial knowledge and 
technologies such as remote sensing for a symmetric warfare. Therefore, this paper takes a closer look at the potential supporting role of 
RS to help antiterrorism and rescue efforts in geospatial domain of Pakistan. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Geospatial technologies such as GIS and Remote Sensing (RS) are 
being used for identification, monitoring, tracking, exploration and 
extraction as well as planning analysis of natural resources in 
addition to environmental protection and sustainable development. 
Sustainable development which aims at improving the quality of 
life is one of the main goals of many countries around the world. 
Therefore, many national planning and development processes in 
different countries are based on such achievement. However, 
terrorism would present a major threat to sustainable development 
or a sign of its failure. Having said that, appropriate security 
measures, can contribute to reduction of impacts of terrorism and 
consequently facilitating the achievement of development goals in 
the countries like Pakistan. In this respect, considering the crucial 
nature of geospatial data for security measures as well as rescue 
efforts, and considering current problems on availability, 
accessibility and usage of updated geospatial data for security 
measures, RS can be an appropriate instrument for facilitating 
anti-terrorism and rescue activities with provision of updated 
geoinformation. The conceptual, practical and instrumental 
aspects of RS were and are still the areas of interest for scientific 
and researcher communities. However, benefiting from RS to fight 
against terrorism, the focal point of this research, is an innovative 
approach for many countries like Pakistan as well as geospatial 
scientific and researcher communities working the world over. 
The growing number of terrorist attacks in recent years in Pakistan 
as displays figure 1, has necessitated the use of geospatial 
technologies such as RS and GIS. The fact is, terrorist activities 
are hard to forecast and very difficult to counter especially suicidal 
attacks. However, the real challenge is to quickly adopt 
methodologies that facilitate the development of prompt as well as 
operational strategies for saving life and property in real time. This 
is the point where RS and geospatial data play a critical role in 
effective response and recovery efforts as argues Hiatt, 2002; 
Huyck and Adams, 2002; Logan, 2002; Williamson and Baker, 
2002. 
105 
Figure 1. Growing terror-related incidents in Pakistan since 2001 
(Source of Numeric Data: http://eiang.iang.com.pk/3-l 8-2010/) 
The timely provision of geospatial data and information of the 
targeted area is needed by the rescue workers and teams to save 
loss of human lives. A solution to the situation could be the use of 
geospatial knowledge and technologies such as remote sensing 
(RS) for provision of updated geospatial information to the needy 
teams. Therefore, this paper takes a closer look at the potential 
supporting role of RS to help antiterrorism and rescue efforts in 
geospatial domain of Pakistan.