Given the state of our economy, we should not let go of such sources
LAHORE: It has been more than three months since the tragic Pulwama incident and the tensions that followed between India and Pakistan. Both countries were at the brink of war, and the intrusion of the Indian Air Force (IAF) into Pakistani airspace did not help the situation. After the first incident of the IAF crossing into Pakistan, we closed our airspace for commercial flights. While the rest of the country’s airspace was reopened after a tense few weeks, the eastern airspace bordering India still remains closed for flights going towards India.
While we are not allowing planes flying towards our neighbour to fly over our territory, we still gave special permission to India’s Prime Minister and the Minister for External Affairs to fly over Pakistan to reach Bishkek for a summit. Why then have we closed off our airspace for commercial flights originating from other countries? These airlines would have conducted their due security checks before allowing passengers to board at origin?
Why then have we continued to close off our airspace for such flights indefinitely? We are only losing out on the fee, taxes and duties multiple airlines would normally pay us for using our airspace. Given the state of our economy, we should not let go of such sources of income, especially after relations with India have normalised to quite an extent.
Umar Farooq
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2019.
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