Total Closure Of Air Space To India: Pak Minister
NEW DELHI : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering a complete closure of air space to India and blocking its trade route to Afghanistan, a Pakistan minister tweeted on Tuesday.
The threat comes amid tension between India and Pakistan over the scrapping of special status to Jammu and Kashmir and the state’s bifurcation.
“PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting, legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration…Modi has started we’ll finish,” Pakistan’s Science and Technology Minister Fawad Hussain tweeted.
After India’s Kashmir move on August 5, Pakistan failed to drum up international support. It had approached the powerful United Nations Security Council, which congregated in a closed-door meeting recently. In a snub to the country, most of the members of the council reportedly agreed with India’s stand that Kashmir was a bilateral issue.
Mr Khan on Monday said that he would raise the Kashmir issue at every international forum, including the UN General Assembly. “First, I believe, the entire nation should stand with the Kashmiri nation. I have said this that I will act as Kashmir’s ambassador,” Mr Khan was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
“I will tell the world about this, I have shared this with heads of state that I have been in contact with. I will raise this issue at the UN as well,” he added, referring to his scheduled address to the UN General Assembly next month. Pakistan has also threatened to move the International Court of Justice against India over its decisions in Kashmir.
Pakistan had closed its air space to Indian planes in February after the Indian Air Force destroyed a terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, in retaliation to the Pulwama attack. Normal air traffic resumed in July.
