New Delhi:
Six days after Pakistan decided to shut its airspace to all flights owned and operated by Indian carriers, New Delhi has announced a reciprocal move by shutting down its airspace to all Pakistan owned and operated planes.
Both India and Pakistan have now blocked each others airlines over their airspace till 11:59 pm UTC on May 23 (5:29 am IST on May 24). These may be revised closer to that date. A NOTAM or Notice to Air Missions was released by New Delhi, which read, “Indian airspace not available to Pakistan registered aircraft and aircraft operated or leased by Pakistan airlines. These include military flights.”
The move comes amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of the horrific terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam in which 26 tourists were gunned down by terrorists with links to Pakistan. The terror attack was religiously-motivated and came days after an inflammatory speech by Pakistan’s army chief General Asim Munir.
With its already-strained ties deteriorating further and at a time when Pakistan is fearing military action by India, flights from Pakistan were in any case avoiding Indian airspace. But with an official announcement by India, its flights shall not be permitted even if they wished to.
Flights from Pakistan, which are scheduled for destinations in southeast Asia and Oceania will now have to circumnavigate India. This will put an immense burden on the already cash-strapped Pakistani carriers, while also increasing travel time considerably.
While India has taken a number of diplomatically-punitive measures, including putting the Indus Waters Treaty in “abeyance”, declaring Pakistani military diplomatic staff at its High Commission as “persona non grata”, closing all its border posts, and cancelling all visas given to Pakistani nationals, Islamabad too has taken some measures, like suspending all trade, closing its airspace to Indian airlines, and citing rights to suspend “all bilateral pacts, including the Simla Agreement”.
Pakistan is worried about an imminent military offensive by India, which has vowed to take action against those responsible for the terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam. India has pledged to go to the “ends of the Earth” to find terrorists and their backers and punish them “beyond their imagination”.
