Pakistan has again closed its airspace for Indian flights, partially till September 5 2019. Three out of eleven routes between India and Pakistan have been closed by Islamabad. The move could adversely hit the Indian and Global airlines as increase the cost of travel.
Aviation security agency Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has also asked all airports to step up security in the wake of the recent developments related to Jammu and Kashmir, saying that “civil aviation has emerged as a soft target for terrorist attacks”.
The closing of airspace decision came after Pakistan said it will be downgrading the diplomatic relations with India. The scrapping of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories has finally had its impact on India-Pakistan relations.
Earlier, as EurAsian Times reported, Pakistan could again close its airspace for Indian flights amid rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations due to flare-up on the Kashmir issue. Pakistan has earlier also closed its airspace after Indian jets violated its airspace and attacked, what New Delhi termed as, terror camps.
Pakistan lifted the ban on flights headed to and coming from India in mid-July, after five months of closure. Both sides had closed off their airspace following a military standoff in February.
Earlier, Pakistan PM Imran Khan established a seven-member committee to advise legal, political and diplomatic response against the Indian Governments’ controversial actions in Jammu and Kashmir.
The high-powered committee would include Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Attorney-General of Pakistan, Anwar Mansoor Khan, Foreign Secretary Sohail Mahmood, and the PM’s special envoy, Ahmed Bilal Sufi, as well as the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Military Operations, and the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
