Wednesday (September 18): Few weeks after it declined the request of President of India to use its airspace for foreign visits, Pakistan today also declines India’s request to allow PM Narendra Modi’s plane to fly through its airspace for the upcoming US visit.
India had formally requested Pakistan to allow the plane to use its airspace during the Prime Minister’s upcoming journey to New York.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, “Pakistan will not allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use its airspace while travelling to the United States,” ANI has reported.
However Prime Minister had used the Pakistani airspace in August, the first time since the Balakot airstrike in February, to travel to France for a bilateral meet.
Pakistan had closed its airspace to India after the air strikes on the JeM (Jaish-e Mohammad) terror camp at Balakot on February 26. But it had opened its airspace again in July.
In exchange India had termed it as a “futile” unilateral action. In a statement, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said, “We regret the decision of the Government of Pakistan to deny overflight clearance for the VVIP special flight which is otherwise granted routinely by any normal country. We call upon Pakistan to recognize the futility of such unilateral actions.”
Pakistan rejects Indian President’s request to use its Airspace
