Pakistan PM embarks on five-day official visit to China today

KARACHI: Pakistan has extended its ban on Indian aircraft using its airspace until June 24, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) announced on Friday, amid continued bilateral tensions following recent military clashes this month.

The restriction was first imposed on April 24, only two days after an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people. India blamed Pakistan for the attack despite Islamabad’s denials. The administration in New Delhi also downgraded bilateral diplomatic ties and took other steps like suspending visas for Pakistanis and shutting border crossings.

In response, Pakistan took its own measures, including the closure of its airspace to Indian aircraft, including commercial and military flights.

“The ban on Indian aircraft flying through Pakistani airspace has been extended until 4:59 AM on June 24, 2025,” the PAA said.

“All aircraft that are Indian-registered, operated, owned or leased will remain subject to the ban,” it added.

The airspace closure has significantly impacted Indian airlines, particularly on long-haul international routes.

Air India, which operates numerous flights to Europe and North America, has been forced to reroute flights, leading to increased fuel consumption, longer flight times, and additional operational costs.

The airline estimates that the ban could result in approximately $600 million in additional expenses over a year and has sought compensation from the Indian government.

Despite a ceasefire agreement announced on May 10, which has held according to Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, the extension of the airspace ban indicates ongoing diplomatic strains.

The situation was further exacerbated by a recent school bus bombing in Pakistan that killed four children, an incident Islamabad has blamed on New Delhi. However, the Indian authorities have denied the charge.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Friday that its initial probe into an attack on a school bus in the Balochistan province has confirmed the involvement of “Indian terror proxies,” promising to defeat the “nefarious” designs.

Balochistan has been the site of an insurgency for decades, though it has intensified more recently, with groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) carrying out high-profile attacks on civilians and security forces.

On Wednesday, at least seven people, including six children, were killed when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device targeted the school bus en route to an army-run school in Balochistan’s Khuzdar.

Speaking at a press conference alongside a Pakistani military spokesman, Interior Secretary Khurram Muhammad Agha called the Khuzdar bombing an attack on “our values, our education and on the very fabric of our society.”

“Initial findings confirm that this attack is in continuity of a broader pattern of violence sponsored by India through Fitna Al-Hindustan (FAH) operating under the tutelage and the patronage of the Indian intelligence agency R&AW,” he said, without offering any proof to link New Delhi to Wednesday’s assault.

The Indian administration has distanced itself from the Khuzdar school bus bombing, attributing such acts of violence to Pakistan’s “internal failures.”

The FAH comprises several separatist groups and independently operating cells who have been operating in the insurgency-hit southwestern Pakistani province, according to the Pakistani officials. These cells, after having suffered immense casualties in past few years, have now resorted to hitting “soft targets.”

“The terror proxies of Hindustan [India] have been tasked to accentuate their heinous attacks of terrorism in Balochistan and elsewhere, sabotage development in the region, incite fear among the population and derail the journey of peace and development in an attempt to repeat their playbook of 1971 [a reference to the fall of Dhaka],” he said.

During the presser, Pakistani military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry detailed various incidents of violence that he said were carried out by India-backed groups.

“Very recently the media international media has seen self-given confessions and acknowledgements of multiple surrendered terrorists of this Fitna Al-Hindustan who told that how Hindustan is funding, planning and carrying out terrorist acts in Balochistan,” he noted.

Relations between Pakistan and India touched a new low last month, when gunmen killed 26 people in Indian-administered Kashmir in an attack India blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denies complicity and Lt Gen Chaudhry said New Delhi had still not provided any evidence to back up its accusation.

A day earlier, Pakistan’s top diplomat at the United Nations (UN) said they would raise the school bus attack at the UN and present evidence of Indian involvement to the international community.

“This was a heinous terrorist act directed against children, against students, [which is] totally unacceptable and condemnable,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told Arab News in an interview.

Interior Secretary Agha said Pakistan and its people, particularly those in Balochistan, reject such “nefarious designs” and Islamabad had the capacity and will to dismantle these networks and to bring the perpetrators and their handlers to justice.

“I assure you that the state in collaboration with the provincial governments and the state apparatus will defeat them,” he said.

“These Indian sponsored terrorists have no place in Pakistan. We have the wherewithal and the commitment to bring an end to this violence. Our resolved is firm and our response will be decisive.”

Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations and frequently accuse each other of fomenting militancy in the other’s territory. Both countries have fought three wars, two of them over Kashmir.