Pakistan PM Imran Khan refuses to use Indian airspace for Malaysia visit

Imran Khan, who is leaving his high-profile Malaysia visit, has instead decided to take China route, despite it adding extra 3-4 additional hours.

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will not use the Indian airspace for his flight to Malaysia, ARY News reported citing sources.

Khan, who will embark on a two-day visit to Malaysia on Monday (February 3), has decided not to use Indian airspace. In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui has said that PM Imran is visiting Kuala Lumpur on the invitation of his Malaysia counterpart Mahathir Mohamad. According to the website, Khan is expected to raise the Kashmir pitch during his meeting with the Malaysian counterpart.

Sources told ARY News that the Pakistan Prime Minister took the decision of not using the Indian airspace in light of the situation in Kashmir. India and Pakistan are at loggerheads since last year owing to a series of events, including the terrorist attack in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir.

The tensions between the two nations increased further after the central government abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated the state into two union territories.

Islamabad, on several occasions, did not allow Indian leaders including President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use its airspace during their trips abroad.

In October last year, India had taken the matter of Pakistan's move to deny permission to Modi's special flight to use its airspace, to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).