Foreign military transport plane forced to land at Karachi airport

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  Foreign military transport plane forced to land at Karachi airport

SOURCE: SINA

ISLAMABAD, April 25 (Xinhua) — A foreign military transport plane was forced to land at the Karachi airport after information was received that it is carrying military equipment without permission to fly over the country, local media reported on Wednesday.

The plane, which was flying from the U.S-controlled Bagram airbase in Afghanistan to the United Arab Emirates, was asked to land in the southern port city of Karachi after it was found to have no clearances from Pakistan’s civil aviation authorities.

Aviation officials at the Karachi airport said that the authorities had issued instruction to force the foreign aircraft to land for inspection.

Pakistani authorities inspected the plane and questioned its crew, TV channels reported.

Reports quoted civil aviation authorities as saying that the plane had violated Pakistani airspace as there is no permission to any aircraft to use the country’s airspace for transporting arms.

Pakistani parliament earlier this month approved guidelines for the future relationship with the U.S. and NATO, which recommended that NATO should not be allowed to use Pakistani airspace and land route for transporting arms to Afghanistan.

Pakistan closed the supply line for NATO-led coalition forces in Afghanistan last November after 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the U.S. airstrike on Pakistani border posts.

Pakistan links reopening of the supply line with “positive response” from the U.S. to its quest for respecting the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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