'Modi has started, we'll finish': Imran Khan considers closing Pakistan's air space to India

'Modi has started, we'll finish': Imran Khan considers closing Pakistan's air space to India
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering closing the country's airspace to India and blocking New Delhi's land trade to Afghanistan as tensions over Kashmir escalate.
2 min read
27 August, 2019
Tensions remain high between the nuclear armed neighbours over Kashmir. [Getty]

Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan is considering closing the country's airspace to India and block New Delhi's land trade to Afghanistan as tensions over Kashmir escalate.

"PM is considering a complete closure of Air Space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan Land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in cabinet meeting, legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration ... #Modi has started we'll finish!," Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan's minister for science and technology, tweeted.

Pakistan reopened its airspace in mid-July after a four-month closure in February when an attack by a Pakistan-based militant group in Indian-controlled Kashmir led to clashes between the nuclear armed neighbours.

Both countries carried out airstrikes on each other's territory while an Indian fighter jet was shot down.

The restrictions on flights cost airlines millions of dollars due to long detours.

Tensions remain high between both countries after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government revoked a decades-old special status granted to Kashmir and deployed thousands of troops to the region in early August.

Indian-controlled Kashmir has been under a sweeping military curfew since then that has seen thousands detained and residents cut off from all communication and the internet.

Pakistan and India, both nuclear-armed nations, have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from the British in 1947.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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