New Delhi/Islamabad: Pakistan has refused India’s request to allow President Ram Nath Kovind to use its airspace for his flight to Iceland, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday.
The President will undertake an official visit to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia from September 9 to 17.
The decision to turn down India’s request was approved by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in view of the “tense” situation in Kashmir, Mr Qureshi told Pakistan state broadcaster PTV, according to news agency reports from Islamabad.
The Pakistan government was under pressure from the country’s Opposition and some ministers there to impose restrictions at least on VVIP flights from India regarding use of Pakistani airspace after media reports surfaced last month that the aircraft carrying Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France had used Pakistani airspace. A hue and cry had subsequently ensued in Pakistan.
Pakistan had fully closed its airspace in late February after an Indian Air Force (IAF) strike on a terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26.
