After facing difficulties in landing at the Lahore airport, a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight flew in Indian airspace for almost 10 minutes. The PIA flight PK248 was returning from Muscat on 4 May and failed to land at Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore due to bad weather.
In the Indian airspace, the PIA aircraft traveled for around 40 kilometers and then finally returned from Naushehra Pannuan in Tarn Taran, Punjab. The pilot was flying the aircraft at 20,000 feet in the Indian airspace and the aircraft kept roaming around for around seven minutes.
After returning to Pakistan near the village of Jhagian Noor Muhammad, the flight re-entered Indian airspace for the second time and this time hovered for around three minutes before turning back to Pakistan from the village of Lakha Singhwala Hithar in Punjab.
The media reports claimed that the PIA flight traveled in Indian airspace for a total of 10 minutes.
India and Pakistan closed their airspaces for each other after the Pulwama attack in 2019, in which 40 soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed. The terrorist attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), based in Pakistan. After the attack, Indian Air Force (IAF) launched ‘Operation Bandar’ and carried out precision air strikes against the JeM establishment inside Pakistan.
