In a surprising development, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft used Pakistani airspace on its return from Poland to New Delhi, aviation sources revealed to Geo News on Saturday. The incident underscores the complex and often strained relationship between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
According to sources from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), the aircraft carrying Prime Minister Modi entered Pakistani airspace at 10:15 AM and exited at 11:01 AM, spending a total of 46 minutes within Pakistan’s borders. The plane entered via Chitral and traversed the air control regions of Islamabad and Lahore before crossing into Indian airspace near Amritsar.
The Indian leader was reportedly returning from Warsaw, Poland, where he had made a brief stopover en route to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This transit through Pakistani airspace comes at a time when diplomatic relations between the two nations remain frosty, with no significant progress in resolving long-standing disputes.
The use of Pakistani airspace by the Indian premier’s aircraft is particularly noteworthy given the history of tensions between the two countries. In March 2019, Pakistan reopened its airspace for civilian flights, ending restrictions that had been imposed in the wake of a military standoff following the Pulwama attack in India Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which claimed the lives of 44 paramilitary personnel.
Diplomatic relations between Islamabad and New Delhi took a further hit in August 2019 when India revoked the semi-autonomous status of IIOJK, a move that led Pakistan to downgrade diplomatic ties and suspend bilateral trade with its neighbor.
While the use of Pakistani airspace by Indian officials is not unprecedented, it is often seen as a reflection of the complicated and tense dynamics between the two countries. As of now, neither the Indian nor Pakistani governments have officially commented on the incident.
