Pakistan allowed India to use its airspace for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to travel to the US. The PM’s plane avoided Afghanistan as it has closed its airspace for any commercial use since the Taliban took control.
India had sought permission from Pakistan regarding the usage of Pakistan’s airspace for Modi’s flight to the US, for which Islamabad gave a nod.
In the past, Islamabad had denied this access when President Ram Nath Kovind and Modi travelled abroad in 2019. This move was to protest against abrogation of Article 370 giving special status to Jammu & Kashmir.
Incidentally, India had allowed Prime Minister Imran Khan’s plane to fly across Indian airspace in February this year enroute Sri Lanka, sources said.
Denying the use of its airspace, Pakistan in 2019 said it took the measure in view of the situation in Jammu & Kashmir and India’s “attitude, oppression and barbarity”.
“We have decided not to give permission to the Indian prime minister and we have conveyed this decision to the Indian High Commission,” Pakistan Foreign Ministry had said in a statement in 2019. India registered a protest against Pakistan with the International Civil Aviation Organisation on the denial.