PM Modi's non-stop flight to US will avoid Afghanistan, to use Pakistan airspace
22 Sep 2021 15:56:40
New Delhi, September 22: In a bid to avoid Afghanistan airspace, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's non-stop flight to the United States (US) will fly over Pakistan after Islamabad gave its permission to use its airspace.
Islamabad had also denied permission when PM Modi was going to the US and Germany and President Kovind was going to Iceland.
Prime Minister Modi has embarked on a three-day visit to the United States where he will address the UN General Assembly and attend the Quad Summit as well as hold a bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House.
According to sources, India has sought out permission from Pakistan regarding the usage of Pakistan’s airspace for PM Modi’s flight to the US, to which Islamabad agreed.
It should be noted, that Pakistan had denied permission of traveling through their airspace thrice in the past to President Ram Nath Kovind and the PM to travel to foreign countries in 2019 after India revoked Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir.
Islamabad had also denied permission when PM Modi was going to the US and Germany and President Kovind was going to Iceland.
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The flight which was carrying PM Modi and the Indian delegation took off from the IAF Technical Airbase, Delhi, Wednesday morning.India had permitted usage of airspace for Pakistan's PM Imran Khan's plane to visit Sri Lanka this year.
The VVIP airplane will be avoiding the Afghanistan airspace entirely, and it has also closed off its airspace for any commercial usage. This new regime in Afghanistan declared the closure of the airspace on August 16, after the Taliban took control of the country. Owing to the unwarranted situation in Afghanistan, the Indian Government has advised its carriers to avoid the airspace over the country entirely.