27 February 2019•Update: 27 February 2019
By Aamir Latif and Ahmad Adil
KARACHI, Pakistan, and CHANDIGADH, India
Flight operations at the nine Indian airports have resumed after a three-hour closure amid escalating tensions with neighboring Pakistan, local media reported.
"As of now, ops [operations] to these airports resumed,” Press Trust of India (PTI), a local news agency quoted a spokesman of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) as saying.
“Earlier on Wednesday, the DGCA Wednesday issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM), saying flight operations at the airports in Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Pathankot, Amritsar, Shimla, Kangra, Kullu Manali and Pithoragarh will remain shut ,” the report further said.
Earlier in the day, several airports close to the Indian border were shut after Pakistan claimed that its air force shot down two Indian fighter jets.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced that flight operations at all the airports will remain shut until Thursday.
In a notification, the CAA said that all international and domestic flights from the country’s major airports -- including Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Sialkot airports --would remain closed till 12.00 p.m. local time (0700GMT) Thursday.
Earlier, Pakistani military spokesman claimed that the country’s air force shot down two fighter jets of Indian Air Force and captured two pilots.
Indian Foreign Ministry also claimed that Indian Air Force shot down a Pakistani fighter jet. It said that Indian Air Force “lost” one MiG 21 fighter jet and that one of its pilot is missing.
The tension between the two nuclear neighbors has raised after Indian jets intruded into Pakistan's airspace on early Tuesday.
India had claimed that “several terrorists” were killed in a “preemptive action” on a camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a group that had been listed as terrorist organization by Islamabad in 2002.
The Pakistani civil and military officials have rejected the claim.
