The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not take the Pakistani air space for flying to the SCO summit in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan scheduled to be held on June 13-14 and instead will fly by the circuitous route through Oman and Iran.
The MEA, in a statement, said, “Government of India had explored two options for the route to be taken by the VVIP Aircraft to Bishkek for the SCO Summit. A decision has now been taken that the VVIP Aircraft will fly via Oman, Iran and Central Asian countries on the way to Bishkek.”
Last week, India had requested Pakistan to let PM Modi’s aircraft fly over its airspace to the Kyrgyzstan capital to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
Pakistan had fully shut its airspace on the eastern border with India after an Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Balakot on February 26. Since then, it has only opened 2 of 11 routes; both of them pass through southern Pakistan.
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Earlier, the MEA had said that Prime Minister Modi will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the SCO summit but no formal meetings have been scheduled with Khan yet.
On May 29, Pakistan had extended the ban on India using its airspace for commercial flights till June 14.
(With agency inputs)