Pakistan has decided to shut its airspace to Indian airlines as a direct response to India suspending the Indus Waters Treaty following the Pahalgam incident, as per the report on Thursday.
This move is expected to cause major financial strain on Indian carriers, which rely heavily on Pakistani airspace for international routes.
Airlines such as Air India, Air India Express, IndiGo, SpiceJet, and Akasa Air typically operate 70 to 80 round-trip flights daily through Pakistan’s air corridor, with that number occasionally surpassing 100.
These flights take off from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, and Goa.
With this restriction, Indian airlines will be forced to adopt longer flight paths, adding around two hours to each journey. This will significantly drive up fuel usage and overall operating costs, creating a financial burden for the affected carriers.
On Wednesday, India also announced the closure of the Attari-Wagah border and revoked the SAARC visa exemption, preventing Pakistani nationals from entering India under that framework.
“The Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 will be held in abeyance with immediate effect,” India’s top diplomat, Vikram Misri, stated during a press briefing in New Delhi.
In a further escalation, India is recalling all its defense attachés from Islamabad and reducing its diplomatic staff in Pakistan from 55 to 30. Additionally, Pakistani military representatives in New Delhi have been instructed to leave within a week.
Pakistan strongly rejected India’s announcement to suspend the treaty, emphasizing that the Indus Waters Treaty is a legally binding international accord brokered by the World Bank, which does not permit any unilateral suspension.
Officials reiterated the importance of water as a critical lifeline for Pakistan’s 240 million citizens.
Any action by India to block or alter the water flow to Pakistan, they stated, would be treated as an “Act of War” and would be met with a full-scale response across the complete spectrum of National Power.