In yet another desperate move, Pakistan has again threatened to close its airspace for flights to and from India, less than one and a half month after reopening the same.
Pakistan’s Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has tweeted, “PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting, legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration… #Modi has started we ll finish!”
PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting,legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration… #Modi has started we ll finish!
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) August 27, 2019
Fawad Chaudhry’s comments come in the backdrop of a number of provocative speeches by Pakistani puppet Prime Minister against India in which he had claimed that Pakistan “will go to any lengths” against India.
These declarations from Pakistan come at a time when it finds itself isolated in the international community after failed attempt to ignite the Kashmir issue. While most nations have firmly endorsed India’s stand, Pakistan has been struggling to sooth internal anger over its incapability to counter India. Along with vacuous speeches with nuclear overtones this proposed move to again close the airspace is surely a shot in the foot for Pakistan.
According to Pakistan daily Dawn, the Pakistan Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan had stated earlier that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) suffered a loss of Rs 8.5 billion because of earlier airspace restrictions imposed by Pakistan. He said, “It’s a huge loss for our overall [aviation] industry.”. Pakistan had then asked India to meet certain conditions relating to military deployment for Pakistan to reopen its airspace for India. However after India refused to engage with Pakistan, it had itself reopened the airspace possibly to reduce the economic impact of such economically disastrous move.
With inflation skyrocketing over 8% to 9%, growth falling and a massive debt crisis looming on its economy, Pakistan desperately needs a flow of dollars into the country. With its forex reserves almost exhausted at $6 to $8 billion, and its exports failing to take off, Pakistan’s economy is crippled to the core. Recent decision of the Asia-Pacific Group to enhanced list ‘or the black list is also sure not to play favor of the rogue nation.
Essentially if Pakistani establishment decides to move forward with this move, it is sure to further heighten the economic pressure on the already struggling state. Moreover as Dawn’s article indicated a loss of Rs 8.5 billion over 5 months, Pakistan’s crippling economy cannot possibly handle a repeat of such a major loss.
However for India’s aviation industry it is more of just change in procedures. Several wast bound flights usually used the Pakistani airspace however to counter earlier restrictions airlines had to take a longer Mumbai-Arabian Sea-Muscat-Gulf route and beyond. A senior Air India (AI) pilot commenting on these developments has said, “We prepared our contingency plans on August 5 itself (when India nullified Article 370 and Pakistan started issuing threats). We will simply repeat what we did last time. Kicking in those plans will take from three hours to a day depending on the time of day when and if Pakistan actually closes its airspace as new flight plans will have to be filed and new time slots at airports abroad will need to be sought.”