The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Wednesday, January 2, 2002, Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

M A I N N E W S

Pervez feels pinch of airspace ban

Kathmandu, January 1
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf felt hurt over India’s decision to ban overflight facilities to Pakistani aircraft from January 1, despite knowing that he would have used Indian airspace to travel to the Himalayan kingdom for the SAARC summit, a senior Pakistani official said today.

“India could have waited till January 7, so that I would have attended the SAARC summit and returned to Islamabad, using Indian airspace... India deliberately effected the ban on our flights so that I could not fly through Indian airspace,’’ General Musharraf reportedly told the Principal Information Officer to the Pakistan Government, Mr Ashfaq Ahmad Gondal.

General Musharraf will now be travelling in a special aircraft from Islamabad to Beijing, from where he would be flown to Kathmandu on the morning of January 4 in a special Chinese aircraft.

“The injured feeling prompted General Musharraf to decide in favour of taking a circuitous route via China to reach Nepal for the summit,’’ Mr Gondal said.

He said: “I wanted to find out from the President whether we had made any request to the Indian authorities to allow the presidential aircraft to use Indian airspace... the President said neither had such a request been made nor he intended to do so’’.

“The President said he would not like to use Indian airspace since the facility had been denied to other Pakistanis,’’ he said.

Asked why a Chinese aircraft was being used by Pakistan to fly General Musharraf, the Pakistan Government’s Information Officer said: “Simply because our pilots are not trained to fly over the Himalayas’’.

India had offered to allow General Musharraf’s plane to fly through its airspace despite the ban to enable him to reach Kathmandu without any hassles and had sought detailed flight information from Islamabad in this regard.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Abdul Sattar arrived here yesterday, at least two days ahead of the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting, travelling in the last Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft to fly through Indian airspace. UNI

Last PIA flight leaves for Karachi

Mumbai, January 1
The last flight of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) left for Karachi from Chhattrapati Sivaji International Airport here this afternoon with 95 passengers on board.

The PIA flights operating from India have been suspended as part of the diplomatic offensive launched against Pakistan after the December 13 assault on Parliament.

Later, Pakistan reciprocated in a similar vein.

PIA sources said the flight left at 12.15 p.m. However, the PIA office in Mumbai was functioning with 19 employees, all of Indian origin. The New Delhi office was also open with 17 employees.

It was an emotional scene as the passengers left for their homeland cutting short visits to family and friends. One more PIA flight will leave Delhi with some High Commission staff soon.

PIA Employees’ Union General Secretary Abu Razak Shaikh met Regional Labour Commissioner M.P.M. Sivakumar yesterday and apprised him of retrenchment fears. UNI