Modi requests Pakistan to use its space to fly to Kyrgyzstan

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ISLAMABAD: The Indian government requested Pakistan to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aircraft to fly over Pakistani airspace on June 13, a local TV reported here on Sunday.

Officials confirmed that Islamabad received a formal request from New Delhi.

The requisition, dispatched by the Indian High Commission, outlined that Modi would like to access Pakistan’s airspace while flying to Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Indian counterpart are both scheduled to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Kyrgyzstan from June 13 to 14.

Pakistan’s airspace along the eastern border with India is expected to remain closed until June 14, in a recent extension, following the February 27 stand-off between the two arch-rival nations.

Relations between the two nuclear-armed countries remained sour after the February 14 suicide attack in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s (IoK) Pulwama district killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers.