Despite the longstanding strained diplomatic ties between Pakistan and India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently used Pakistani airspace, aviation sources informed Geo News on Saturday.
According to sources from the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), an aircraft carrying Modi flew through Pakistani airspace while returning to New Delhi from Poland. The aircraft entered Pakistani airspace at 10:15 a.m. and exited at 11:01 a.m., spending a total of 46 minutes in the country’s airspace. The plane entered via Chitral and passed through the air control zones of Islamabad and Lahore before crossing into Indian airspace over Amritsar.
Modi had visited Warsaw, the capital of Poland, on his way to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In March 2019, Pakistan lifted airspace restrictions for civilian flights, reopening a crucial transit air corridor that had been closed for nearly five months due to a military standoff with India. The standoff was triggered by an attack on a security convoy that killed 44 paramilitary police in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).
Later that year, in August 2019, Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties and suspended bilateral trade with India after the Modi-led government revoked the semi-autonomous status of IIOJK.
