NA speaker’s aircraft denied permission to land at Kabul Airport

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser’s visit to Kabul was postponed abruptly after the plane aboard Pakistan delegation was denied landing at the Hamid Karzai International Airport at the last moment on Thursday.

Mohammad Sadiq, Prime Minister's Special Representative for Afghanistan, tweeted that visit of Speaker Asad Qaiser was postponed due to security reasons. The speaker was heading a nine-member parliamentary delegation to Kabul on the special invitation of his counterpart Chairman Wolesi Jirga Afghanistan Mir Rehman Rahmani.

“The aircraft of the speaker was denied permission to land at the Hamid Karzai International Airport due to a security threat," Sadiq said on Twitter.

He said the plane was about to descend when the control tower informed of the closure of the airport. “New dates for the visit will be decided after mutual consultations,” he said.

According to available data, the plane circled for some time near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai Airport before heading back home. However, the information available from the Kabul

Airport’s online arrivals and departures showed regular flight movement.

Rehman Rahmani and Chairman of the Afghan Senate Fazal Hadi Muslimyar telephoned Asad Qaiser and regretted the postponement of the visit. They said they were looking forward to the visit of the delegation from Pakistan at an earlier date.

Asad Qaiser said he would be visiting Kabul as soon as the security situation improves. The parliamentary delegation included Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Sadiq Khan, MNAs Shandana Gulzar, Muhammad Yaqoob Shaikh, Sajid Khan, Maulana Salauddin Ayubi, Gul Dad Khan, Ghulam Mustafa Shah and secretary National Assembly. The delegation was scheduled to undertake four-day visit to Kabul.