Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) confirmed on Wednesday that all airports across the country “remain fully operational” and that airspace “continues to be open and secure for civil aviation activities”.
This insurance follows Pakistan’s reprisals for missile strikes launched by India, which led to the death of at least 26 people in Pakistan early on Wednesday. In response, Pakistan killed five Indian planes.
The PAA stressed that it had officially communicated Pakistan’s concerns to the International Civil Aviation Organization (OCAO), citing the serious risks to the security of civil aviation posed by the “reckless and provocative actions” of India.
The authority has also reiterated its commitment to ensure the safe and uninterrupted movement of national and international commercial flights, effectively managing national airspace.
In the wake of air strikes, the National Security Council of Pakistan (NSC) condemned the actions of India, calling them an “illegal act and a blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty”.
The NSC has reaffirmed that Pakistan “reserves the right to respond in self -defense, the place and the manner of its choice”, promising to avenge the loss of innocent lives.
Later in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz pointed out that Pakistan Air Force (PAF) could have killed at least 10 Indian planes but had shown a restraint.
The Prime Minister also tackled a recent incident in Pahalgam illegally occupied Jammu-et-Cachemire (IIOJK), which Pakistan condemned. The Indian media, however, sought to blame Islamabad without any evidence.
On Wednesday, the Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations (DG ISPR), Lieutenant-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, confirmed that 26 civilians were martyred and 46 others injured in Indian air strikes overnight aimed at several civil zones through Pakistan in what it called “the Sindoor operation”.
