Pakistan closes its airspace and the dispute with India is more tense – 27/02/2019

Pakistan has announced the closure of its airspace "until further notice", said civil aviation authorities Wednesday, after Islamabad claimed to have shot down two planes coming from India, causing an escalation of tension between the two countries, facing a historic conflict on the Kashmir region.

A spokesman for the Pakistani army told the agency AFP that this decision was taken "because of the circumstances". In India, at least five airports have been closed and many flights have been canceled. However, the Indian authority of civil aviation has not commented yet.

The Pakistani army claimed to have shot down two Indian planes in its airspace, a day after India announced the bombing of insurgent camps on Pakistani territory.

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"The Pakistani Air Force has shot down two Indian fighters in Pakistani airspace," General Asif Ghafoor, a spokesman for the Pakistani army, told his official Twitter account. .

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The spokesman said that one of the planes had fallen to Pakistani Kashmir and the other in the Indian area of ​​this region. challenged by both countries since 1947 and for which he fought two wars and several minor conflicts. "An Indian pilot was arrested by ground troops"badured Ghafoor.

In addition, he noted that Indian fighters had violated the Pakistani airspace after Pakistan had bombed Indian territory.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry Confirms Fighters "Strike" Indian Territory without causing loss of life or property to demonstrate his capacity for self-defense.

"The Pakistani air force launched shelling from Pakistani airspace on the line of control (LoC, de facto Kashmir border)," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. communicated. He explained that "It's not revenge" and that the attack was aimed at "non-military objectives avoiding casualties and collateral damage".

"The sole purpose was to demonstrate our right, our will and our ability to self-defense," according to the note, which accused India of: "to commit acts of terrorism" on its territory.

The new escalation between the two nuclear nations occurs after the Indian government announced on Tuesday that it had bombed insurgent camps on Pakistani soil of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a group that claimed responsibility for the bombing in which 42 policemen died in Indian Kashmir on 14 February.

According to the New Delhi narrative, the Indian operation has killed "a significant number of terrorists, coaches, high-ranking commanders and jihadist groups of jihadists trained to carry out attacks."

Islamabad, however, denied losses or damage and he admitted that a brief air invasion of his territory and the launch of four bombs that fell into open spaces.

India has repeatedly accused Pakistan of supporting "cross-border terrorism" and authorizing and sponsoring the operation of terrorist groups on its territory to attack Indian targets and stir up protests. separatists among the population of Kashmir.

Source: EFE and AFP