Block ships bound for Karachi if Pak shuts air space: Swamy

Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy sought to advise the Union government on social media asking it to block ships bound for Karachi port if Pakistan closes its air space for Indian aircraft.

Swamy's statement comes in the backdrop of reports that Pakistan is considering closure of its air space for traffic from India. The Pakistan step came following withdrawal of special category status to Jammu and Kashmir.

"My advice to Namo Govt: If Pak closes their airspace for our commercial and civilian aircraft, India should close Karachi port by blocking ships going through Arabian Sea (which needs to be renamed) to Karachi port," tweeted Swamy.

On Tuesday, Pakistani Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry tweeted hinting at the probable closure of his country's airspace for India.

"PM is considering a complete closure of air space to India, a complete ban on use of Pakistan land routes for Indian trade to Afghanistan was also suggested in the cabinet meeting... legal formalities for these decisions are under consideration... Modi has started, we'll finish!," tweeted Fawad Chaudhry.

Following the Balakot air strikes early this year, Pakistan had closed its airspace for Indian traffic from February 26 till it was fully reopened on July 16. Nearly 84,000 flights had been affected during this period of 140 days. India had said that 600 flights per day were impacted due to the closure of Pakistani airspace during this period.IANS