PIA plane carrying Hindu pilgrims denied permission to land in India

KARACHI: The Indian government has refused a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) request for landing at Jaipur International Airport aimed at facilitating Hindu pilgrims travelling between Karachi and Jaipur, ARY NEWS reported.

According to sources privy to the matter, the PIA has sought permission from the Indian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to allow a special flight from Karachi to Jaipur carrying Hindu pilgrims on January 29.

The special PIA flight was arranged on the request of the Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) for visit to religious sites and according to sources, the flight had to carry 160 pilgrims from Karachi to Lahore on Saturday morning and then to Jaipur.

“The flight had to land at Jaipur airport at 12:00 noon on Saturday,” they said and added that however, the PIA was not given permission to plan the flight.

The PIA officials have confirmed to ARY NEWS that the Indian government has refused PIA’s request to land at Jaipur airport. “Last month, the Indian government also denied permission to a PIA flight to land at New Delhi airport,” they said.

Read More: INDIAN PLANE MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING IN KARACHI AFTER PASSENGER DIES MID-FLIGHT

In March 2021, an Indian airplane had made an emergency landing at the Jinnah International Airport Karachi after, a man passed away while flying from Sharjah to Lucknow.

The pilot of an Indian airliner had to force the plane to make an emergency landing to deal with the situation at hand.

The pilot had sought permission from the Air Traffic Controller (ATC) after communicating the situation. Later, the pilot had been allowed to make an emergency landing on humanitarian grounds.