ISLAMABAD: In wake of the tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad leading to Pakistan issuing notice to airmen (NOTAM) suspending air traffic, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Thursday announced it will treat all stranded Pakistani pilgrims as guests till resumption of commercial flights to the troubled south Asian country.
Pakistan suspended all civil and commercial air traffic in its’s air space as a precautionary measure taken by the country’s civil aviation authority amid the war hysteria ratcheted by India to avenge the murder of over 40 Indian paramilitary troops New Delhi accuses militants based in Islamabad of orchestrating.
Islamabad rejected New Delhi’s claims it had hit a militant base inside Pakistan on Tuesday morning countering its archrival’s narrative saying Indian jets barely remained in its airspace before fleeing after encountered by Pakistani fighter jets without any collateral damage.
In a tit for tat response, Pakistan scrambled its’s warplanes and targeted six Indian military sites across the disputed Kashmir border and shot down two incoming Indian fighter jets that violated the militarized Line of Control (LoC). The wreckage and pilot of one aircraft landed in Pakistan administered Kashmir and the airman subsequently was captured by its armed forces. He’s likely to be handed over to Indian authorities on Friday as a “peace gesture”.
Cognizant of the situation, on the instructions of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and arrangements made under the guidance of King Salman bin AbdulAziz, the Saudi ministry of Hajj and Umrah is extending its generosity to all Pakistani pilgrims who are stranded in Saudi Arabia due to temporary suspension of flights in their country, said a Saudi Embassy official to Arab News in Islamabad.
Though Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced to partially open its airspace, several international Airlines have suspended their flights to the country monitoring the developing situation.
Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs Adel al-Jubeir is expected in Islamabad on Friday to deliver a special message from Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, foreign office spokesman Dr. Mohammed Faisal told Arab News without detailing the contours of the visit.
Foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a conversation with Al-Jubeir Wednesday evening told his Saudi deputy counterpart that his country wanted to keep the international community in the loop regarding the ongoing situation in the region. He said India’s aggressive designs are detrimental to regional peace and security.
Following the telephone call in which he briefed Al-Jubeir on India’s "aggressive posture", Qureshi said, the Saudi foreign state minister “expressed his desire to visit Pakistan, which I fully supported”. The senior Saudi emissary will arrive in Islamabad on his special aircraft.
Al-Jubeir’s visit comes just short of a week following the conclusion of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s rare Asian tour which began with a two-day visit to Pakistan earlier this month where he observed his high powered delegation sign several memoranda of understandings and agreements worth over $20 billion in presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan and members of his cabinet.