Islamabad | Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has confirmed that they have refused a request by India to allow President Ram Nath Kovind to use its airspace for his flight to Iceland.
Kovind will embark on a visit to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia from Monday during which he is expected to brief the top leadership in those countries on the Kashmir situation, and some on India’s “national concerns”.
“The Indian President had sought permission to use Pakistan’s airspace to travel to Iceland but we decided not to permit him,” Qureshi added without giving further details.
“The decision has been taken in view of India’s behaviour,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in a statement their local news channel.
Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 26 after the Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter jets struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp in Balakot following the Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.
The tension between the two countries has reached its peak after Centre revoked Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, and Pakistan called it “unconstitutional” and “illegal”.
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