When will Pakistan stop acting naive? Imran Khan denies use of airspace to Prez Kovind's Europe visit

New Delhi, September 07: Acting immature and leaving sofisticating behaviour at stone's throw, Pakistan, waking ahead in the Kashmir stance has refused India's request to allow President Ram Nath Kovind to use its airspace for his flight to Iceland.

 

Kovind, who is slated to embark on a visit to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia from Monday, is expected to brief the top leadership in those countries on India's national concerns, especially in view of terror incidents this year, including the Pulwama attack.

 

 

The decision is however approved by PM Imran Khan under pressure from the opposition and some ministers to impose on India to use its airspace after India revoked special status of Kashmir.

 

Though, so far no decision was taken to impose the blanket ban but Pakistan showed its intension by disallowing President Kovind to use its airspace. "New Delhi's tough stance on Kashmir was a serious issue which he would take up with the United Nations Human Rights Council", Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday.

 

He noted that 34 days have elapsed since the Indian authorities imposed a crippling curfew in Kashmir before revoking the region's special status on August 5. Pakistan had fully closed its airspace in February after an Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot. The country opened its airspace for all flights except for New Delhi, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur on March 27.

 

Tensions between India and Pakistan spiked after India abrogated provisions of Article 370 of the Constitution to withdraw Jammu and Kashmir's special status and bifurcated it into two Union Territories, evoking strong reactions from Pakistan. India has categorically told the international community that the scrapping of Article 370 was an internal matter and also advised Pakistan to accept the reality.