Pakistan temporary closes its airspace, suspends flights: sources

KARACHI: In view of the present emergency situation Pakistan’s airspace has been temporarily closed, citing sources ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The flight operations have been suspended at Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and other major airports of the country, sources said.

A spokesperson of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), has said that Lahore to Oslo flight PK 751 and Islamabad to Manchester flight PK 701 have been stopped at airports.

All international and domestic flights operations have been suspended at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

Indian media has also reported suspension of flights in Occupied Kashmir and India’s Punjab having border with Pakistan. The civilian air traffic has been suspended at Srinagar airport, reports said.

India have grounded their all civilian aircraft, according to reports.

Two fighter jets of Indian Air Force (IAF) were shot down by Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in bright day light on Wednesday, Director General Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asif Ghafoor said.

According to the DG ISPR, Indian fighter jets violated Line of Control (LoC) today, and in a robust response, the PAF destroyed two aircraft of IAF inside Pakistani airspace.

One IAF jet crashed inside Azad and Jammu Kashmir region while other in Indian occupied Kashmir, Ghafoor said.

“PAF shot down two Indian aircrafts inside Pakistani airspace. One of the aircraft fell inside AJ&K while other fell inside IOK. One Indian pilot arrested by troops on ground while two in the area,” DG ISPR tweeted.

Sources informed ARY News that all three Indian pilots have been nabbed by Pakistani forces.

As per Ministry of Foreign Affaris (MoFA), Pakistan Air Force (PAF) undertook strikes across Line of Control from within Pakistani airspace on Wednesday (today).