Prime Minister NarendraModi will not fly over Pakistan on his way to Bishkek on Thursday to attend a summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the External Affairs Ministry said.
It said Modi’s aircraft will fly over Oman, Iran and severalCentral Asian countries to reach the Kyrgyz capital.
“The government of India had explored two options forthe route to be taken by the VVIP aircraft to Bishkek. A decision has now beentaken that the VVIP aircraft will fly via Oman, Iran and Central Asiancountries on the way to Bishkek,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said onWednesday.
He was responding to media queries regarding the route to betaken by the Prime Minister while travelling to Bishkek.
If Modi would have flown over Pakistan it would have takenthree-and-a-half hours to reach Bishkek and now it will take about seven hoursfor the journey, officials said.
Even as India decided not to use the Pakistani airspace forthe VVIP aircraft, Pakistan Wednesday said it will “specially” openits airspace for the flight of Prime Minister Modi to Bishkek to attend the SCOsummit.
On Monday, a Pakistani official told PTI that Islamabad hasaccorded an “in principle” approval to India’s request.
India’s decision on the Prime Minister’s travel route toBishkek appears surprising as it had only requested Pakistan to let Modi’saircraft fly over its airspace when he travels to Bishkek.
The decision also came over a week after Pakistan PrimeMinister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi wrote separateletters to their Indian counterparts, pushing for restarting bilateral talks.
Khan had also made a telephone call to Modi on May 26 andexpressed his desire to work together for the betterment of people of the twocountries.
On his part, Modi said creating trust and an environmentfree of violence and terrorism was essential for fostering peace and prosperityin the region.
India has not been engaging with Pakistan since an attack onthe Air Force base at Pathankot in January of 2016 by a Pakistan-based terrorgroup, maintaining that talks and terror cannot go together.
Khan is also travelling to Bishkek to attend the SCO summitand there was speculation that he and Modi may hold a meeting on the sidelinesof the multilateral forum. However, on Monday, the MEA spokesperson said nosuch meeting has been arranged between the two leaders.
Last month, Pakistan had given special permission to thethen external affairs minister SushmaSwaraj to fly through Pakistani airspacewhile travelling to Bishkek to attend a meeting of SCO Foreign Ministers.
Pakistan fully closed its airspace on February 26 after theIndian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camp inBalakot.
Since then, it has only opened two routes, both of them passthrough southern Pakistan, of the total 11.
On its part, the IAF announced on May 31 that all temporaryrestrictions imposed on Indian airspace post the Balakot airstrike have beenremoved. However, it is unlikely to benefit anycommercial airliners unless Pakistan reciprocates and opens its completeairspace.