Overflight request for Indian president rejected

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday denied Indian President Ram Nath Kovind the permission to fly through its airspace due to New Delhi´s recent "behaviour".

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The Indian president was scheduled to leave for three-nation visit to Iceland, Switzerland, and Slovenia from September 9 to 17, according to the Indian media. The decision comes at a time when tensions are high between the two South Asian neighbors over revocation of the autonomous status of the Muslim-majority state Jammu and Kashmir, imposition of curfew and communications blackout and deployment of thousands of troops there by the Modi lead Hindu nationalist government. Amid a strict lock down, hundreds of activists and political leaders, including three former chief ministers, have been detained by Indian authorities in recent weeks.

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Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Pakistan had turned down the Indian request due to Indian stubbornness in the Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) and imposition of curfew for the last 34 days depriving the people of their fundamental rights and needs. He said the Indian attitude was totally against the human values and its leadership is obsessed with fanaticism despite that Pakistan was moving ahead prudently. “Pakistan has decided that in these circumstances, when India is using oppression, violence, violating fundamental laws, breaching people’s rights and has Kashmiri leadership behind bars, the Indian president cannot be allowed to use its airspace,” he stated.

To a question, the foreign minister said Pakistan was in contact with all the international organisations and during his upcoming visit to Geneva he would meet the permanent representatives of the OIC member countries there.

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Indian government spokesman Raveesh Kumar said New Delhi regretted the decision, as flight clearance to a "VVIP" was "otherwise granted routinely by any normal country". "We call upon Pakistan to recognise the futility of such unilateral actions," Kumar said.

Pakistan had closed its airspace to Indian traffic in February after a suicide bomb attack that killed dozens of Indian troops in the IHK, ratcheted up tensions between the two neighbours and prompted aerial dogfights. It reopened its skies for all civilian traffic in July, ending months of restrictions that had affected major international routes.

Saturday´s decision came a day after Pakistan marked Defence Day, which commemorates a brief 1965 war with India over Kashmir. "Pakistan firmly stands with the Kashmiris for their right to self-determination," Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday during a visit to military posts and families of the martyred soldiers in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.