The Pakistan Government on the 7th of September, refused the Indian Government’s request to allow Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, to use Pakistan’s airspace.
Mr. Kovind will travel to Switzerland, Iceland and Slovenia on the 9th of September. He is going to Iceland to brief the top leaders of the Country regarding India’s national concern about terror incidents. He will also speak about the recent Pulwama terror attack in India.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, issued a notice and said Pakistan refused to allow Kovind’s aircraft to pass from their airspace. Mr. Qureshi said, “A terrible injustice is being carried out in occupied Kashmir and the Indian Government has refused to budge from their hard line position on the issue.”
Mr. Qureshi said the decision to reject the demand was taken by Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, after seeing the situation between India and Pakistan.
After the Government of India (GoI) revoked Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the situation between India and Pakistan worsened. Kashmir is a long standing issue between India and Pakistan and after the implementation of the Reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir Act, Jammu and Kashmir will be a union territory and will be under the GoI.
Previously, Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed a special status because of Article 370.
In the wake of the revocation of Article 370, Pakistan is expected to close its airspace completely for India. However, an official announcement is yet to be made. As of now, some parts of the airspace are closed for Indian flights, especially those flying from Delhi.
Recently, after the announcement about the revocation of Article 370, the Pakistan Government stopped the Samjhauta Express and the bus services between Pakistan and India.
Stay tuned for further updates.
