ISLAMABAD: Kabul air-traffic-management, Thursday, "turned back" a plane with a nine-member Parliamentary delegation led by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser due to "security threat".
The plane was denied landing permission after reports of explosives placed under a building near the airport.
According to tweet of Pakistan's Special Representative for Afghanistan Mohammad Sadiq, “The aircraft of Parliamentary delegation led by Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser was turned back from Kabul owing to imminent security threat and airspace closure.”
He said, “the plane was about to descend when the control tower informed of the closure of the airport. New dates for the visit will be decided after mutual consultations.”
Taking to Twitter, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser also said a Parliamentary delegation’s Afghanistan visit got cancelled due to the closure of the Kabul airport owing to security reasons.
However, the information available from the Kabul Airport’s online arrivals and departures showed regular flight movement.
According to the data available from the flight tracker Flight radar 24 and shared by an unofficial PIA enthusiast the aircraft circled for some time near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai airport, before heading back home.
The Parliamentary delegation comprised Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Muhammad Sadiq Khan, Members of the National Assembly (MNAs) Shandana Gulzar, Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, Sajid Khan, Maulana Salauddin Ayubi, Gul Dad Khan, Ghulam Mustafa Shah, and Secretary National Assembly.
Chairman Wolesi Jirga Afghanistan Mir Rehman Rahmani and Chairman of the Afghan Senate Fazal Hadi Muslimyar telephoned Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and regretted the postponement of the visit.
They said they were looking forward to the visit of the delegation from Pakistan at a later date.
National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Thursday, left for Afghanistan on a three-day visit with a nine-member parliamentary delegation.
He had to visit Kabul on the special invitation of his counterpart of Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga Mir Rehman Rahmani.
The purpose of the visit was to bring the two nations closer, improve bilateral relations, trade and investment, and regional peace.
During the visit, it was also scheduled to hold meetings with his counterpart Mir Rehman Rehmani, Chairman Afghan Reconciliation Council Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan Minister for Commerce and Foreign Affairs Minister, and other political and government officials.
However, there are speculations in Islamabad that a strong lobby existed in Afghanistan and it does not want better relationship of Afghanistan with Pakistan in terms of trade, investment and people-to-people contact.
In previous months, the speaker National Assembly has tried his level best to improve relations with Afghanistan and removed obstacles between the border of the two countries to expedite and increase the volume of trade.
The speaker also offered the Afghan businessman and investors for investing in Rashakai Special Economic Zone (REZ) is located at Nowshera-Mardan Road in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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