PM Modi's plane was in Pakistan airspace while returning from Poland: Report

PM Modi visited Poland on August 21-22.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's aircraft reportedly spent 46 minutes in Pakistani airspace on its return from Poland.

According to a report by  Geo News, citing Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) sources, on August 24, PM Modi's plane entered Pakistani airspace at 10:15 am and left at 11:01 am, spending a total of 46 minutes in the airspace. The plane entered Pakistani airspace via Chitral and travelled through air control zones of Islamabad and Lahore before entering Amritsar, the report added.

Moneycontrol couldn't independently verify the report.

“The Prime Minister’s aircraft does not need special consent to fly over a country and has blanket permission. In some cases, the PM’s aircraft is allocated a call sign, the same way an aircraft carrying heads of state from Pakistan, are allocated call signs such as ‘Pakistan 1’,” The Dawn reported citing sources.

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Pakistan completely closed its airspace to India from February 26, 2019. In the same year, Pakistan rejected a request from PM Modi to use Pakistani airspace for a trip to Germany.

PM Modi visited Poland on August 21-22, making it the first state visit by an Indian PM in 45 years. The PM also visited Ukraine on August 23 and made history as the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Ukraine since diplomatic relations were established between the two nations in 1992.