India has closed Leh, Jammu, Srinagar, Shimla, Dharamshala, Kullu, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bhatinda, Pathankot, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Dehradun, and Pantnagar civilian air traffic as tensions between India and Pakistan has worsened, news agencies reported.
Asian News International reported that India’s action came after Pakistani F-16 jets allegedly violated Indian airspace in retaliation for Indian Air Force jets bombing a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday.
In Srinagar, an official of the Airports Authority of India told Press Trust of India, “The civilian air traffic has been suspended temporarily in view of the emergency”. He, however, did not specify the nature of the emergency.
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Officials said they received instructions from air traffic controllers that the airports have been shut for civilian flights.
Some of the flights en route to the Jammu, Leh, and Srinagar airports have been diverted to their origin stations, they added.
The flare-up in the cross-LoC shelling, which was initiated by Pakistani troops in early hours of Wednesday, has also resulted in security forces and other establishments being put on a heightened alert.
Meanwhile, there are unconfirmed reports that Pakistan has also stopped its domestic and international flight operations to/from Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, and Islamabad Airports.
News agencies also have claimed that international flights that transit between India and Pakistan are either returning to their origin or seeking alternative routes.
At 1:50 pm (Indian Time ) The Arabian Stories found that FlightRadar24 live data reveals empty India-Pak airspace and flights are getting diverted.
Media reports said that Pakistani jets entered the border areas of Nowshera sector in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district on Wednesday morning, and dropped bombs. However, one of the three F-16s was shot down in Nowshera’s Lam Valley, three kilometers into Pakistani territory, India said.
Pakistan, on the other hand, has claimed that it shot down two Indian aircraft and arrested an India pilot. India has refuted these claims, PTI reported.
Separately, an Indian fighter plane has crashed in Budgam, but the cause of the crash is speculated to be a technical failure.
