Pakistan on Wednesday rejected India’s request to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flight to pass through its air space to the United States later this week.
“We have conveyed to the Indian High Commission that we will not allow use of our air space for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flight,” Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.
He added that the decision has been taken in the wake of “India’s atrocities and human rights violations in Kashmir”.
Hours after this, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar, said: “We regret the decision of the Government of Pakistan to deny overflight clearance for the VVIP special flight for a second time in two weeks, which is otherwise granted routinely by any normal country.”
He further said: “Pakistan should reflect upon its decision to deviate from well established international practice, as well as reconsider its old habit of misrepresenting the reasons for taking unilateral action.”
Earlier in the day, India had made a formal request to Pakistan for the usage of its airspace for PM Modi’s flight. The Prime Minister is due to depart for the US to attend the Howdy Modi event and to participate in the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
Previously, Islamabad had denied overflight clearance to President Ram Nath Kovind’s flight to Iceland earlier this month.
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Even though Pakistan has been threatening to completely close its airspace to India since the abrogation of Article 370, no official notification has been issued so far in this regard.
Following India’s decision, Islamabad has unilaterally downgraded its diplomatic relations with India and partially closed its airspace. However, the Prime Minister had used the Pakistani airspace to travel to France for a bilateral meet last month.
Pakistan had also partially shut off its airspace for Indian flights after New Delhi abrogated Article 370 that accorded special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
(With ANI inputs)