Pakistan Shuts Airspace After India’s ‘Using Civilian Flights As Shields’ Charge

Today, Pakistan closed its airspace to all air traffic, just hours after India accused it of utilizing commercial flights as cover during drone strikes. The resolution, announced via a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), arose during increased tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.

The action comes after a night of heightened drone operations near India’s northern and western frontiers, following Pakistan’s simultaneous drone strikes aimed at military assets in 26 sites, extending from Leh in the north to Sir Creek in the south. Multiple targeted locations encompassed essential airfields, forward military installations, and civilian aviation facilities. India effectively thwarted every assault.

India accused Pakistan of jeopardizing global air traffic by maintaining its airspace open during drone and missile activities.

“Pakistan is using civil airliners as a shield, knowing fully well that its attack on India would elicit a swift air defence response. This is not safe for the unsuspecting civil airliners, including the international flights which were flying near the international border between India and Pakistan,” Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Army said at a press briefing yesterday, alongside Wing Commander Vyomika Singh of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.

Pakistan deployed between 300 and 400 drones, identified preliminarily as Turkish-made Asisguard Songar models, on the night of May 8-9. Many were intercepted using a combination of kinetic and electronic warfare systems, including the Barak-8 and S-400 Triumph missile defence platforms, Akash SAMs, and indigenous anti-drone technologies.

“The sheer scale suggests it was a deliberate military attempt to test our readiness. We responded proportionately,” Wing Commander Singh said at the briefing.

Among the locations targeted were Srinagar airport, the Awantipora airbase, Nagrota, Jammu, Pathankot, Fazilka, and Jaisalmer.

In Ferozpur, a drone attack on a civilian area injured three members of a local family. No Indian military installations were damaged.

Late Friday night, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level security review meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and the heads of the armed forces. Earlier today, PM Modi met with former military leaders to gather their opinions on the ongoing crisis. Home Minister Amit Shah assessed the readiness of civil authorities in border states adjacent to Pakistan, focusing especially on airports and key assets.