Srinagar: There was a lot of hope generated by the J&K administration among the business community here that there would now be international flights and business opportunities will increase with efforts like signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UAE recently. All these hopes have been dashed with Pakistan refusing use of its airspace for flights from Srinagar to Sharjah, as efforts were done again after over 11 years by the government.
Apart from the business community of Kashmir, all the mainstream political leaders, including two former chief ministers, have reacted to this decision of Pakistan and to the fact on the ground that there is no thaw in the relationship between New Delhi and Islamabad even after the recent ceasefire on the borders.
Amid all this criticism, the central government has reportedly requested Pakistan through diplomatic channels to allow Go First’s Srinagar-Sharjah flight use its airspace, as a lot of people from Kashmir have already booked their tickets to explore the possibilities of business opportunities in Dubai. Pakistan has recently not allowed the Srinagar-Sharjah flight to use its airspace, thus the Go First flight was forced to take a longer route and fly over Gujarat to reach its destination in the UAE.
After the recent inauguration of this Srinagar-Sharjah flight on 23 October, Pakistan allowed the airspace for this flight for some days which was operating according to the schedule four times a week, but later refused the permission. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah who has remained junior foreign minister at the Centre took to twitter to give vent to his views.
He said, “Very unfortunate. Pakistan did the same thing with the Air India Express flight from Srinagar to Dubai in 2009-2010. I had hoped that @GoFirstairways being permitted to overfly Pak airspace was indicative of a thaw in relations but alas that wasn’t to be.”
Like Omar Abdullah, not only politicians, but also most of the people connected with trade thought that New Delhi worked a deal through diplomatic channels with Islamabad for the resumption of these flights to UAE. Another former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti also tweeted about the refusal by Pakistan to provide airspace and said in her tweet, “Puzzling that GoI didn’t even bother to secure permission from Pakistan to use its airspace for international flights from Srinagar. Only a PR extravaganza without any groundwork.”
Recently, while inaugurating the Srinagar-Sharjah flight during his visit to Kashmir, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that these flights will give a boost to the tourism sector and also to trade and commerce. If Pakistan does not allow its airspace for these flights, it will not only raise the price of the tickets, but also the time of flight by at least 40 minutes. The tourism industry and traders are waiting with fingers crossed in Kashmir to see how this airspace issue will unfold in the coming days.
Peoples Conference Chief and Former Minister Sajad Gani Lone in a tweet summed up the frustration in the business community and common people by the latest refusal of airspace to these flights from Srinagar by Pakistan through his tweet. He said in his tweet, “Seems Srinagar to Sharjah flight is yet again doomed. Pakistan has apparently not allowed its airspace to be used. What a shame. Our accessibility is yet again restricted. Not fair at all for Kashmiris. It is a heartless decision.”