PM avoids Afghan airspace, takes longer route for Azerbaijan visit

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s special aircraft avoided Afghanistan’s airspace on both legs of his two-day visit to Azerbaijan, opting instead for a longer route through Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

On the outbound journey, his plane flew from Islamabad to Baku via these countries. Returning on Friday night, the flight followed the same extended path back to Lahore, again bypassing the Kabul Flight Information Region.

On Friday, he visited the city of Fuzuli in Azerbaijan before departing for Pakistan the same night. The return flight also bypassed Afghanistan’s Kabul Flight Information Region, again requiring a longer path back to Lahore.

An official in Islamabad when asked about the long detour said that it was taken for security reasons and to convey to Kabul Islamabad’s sense of dissatisfaction over measures to rein in on terror elements operating from Afghanistan.