SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan: India requests Pakistan to allow Modi use its airspace

ISLAMABAD: The Indian government has requested Pakistan to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft to fly over Pakistani airspace on June 13.

According to sources, Pakistan has received a formal request sent by the Indian high commission in this regard.

Modi is scheduled to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan next week. Pakistani airspace on its eastern border with India will remain closed until June 14, a civil aviation official said on May 29, the latest extension months after a standoff between the arch-rivals.

Pakistan closed its airspace in February after a suicide attack on Indian troops in Pulwama district in Indian held Kashmir, led to aerial bombing missions on each other’s soil and a fighter dogfight over Kashmir.

Foreign carriers using Indian airspace have been forced to take costly detours because they cannot fly over Pakistan. The closure mainly affects flights from Europe to Southeast Asia. “The closure will continue until June 14,” a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority told Reuters, without giving further details.