The devastating earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and western Syria on February 6. In this context, media outlets widely claimed that Pakistan had denied airspace to India’s C-17 plane carrying relief aid.
On February 7, the Indian Air Force sent aircraft carrying search & rescue teams to Turkey. India has since then sent six planes carrying rescue material, medical equipment, and trained personnel and set up a field hospital in Hatay, Türkiye.
Claim:
Media outlets claimed Pakistan denied its airspace to Indian Air Force aircraft traveling on February 7. Some media outlets claimed that this is the second time that Pakistan has attempted to prevent India from sending humanitarian aid to nations in need.
Media outlets such as Zee News English, Mirror Now, Firstpost, News18, Asianet Suvarna News, OneIndia News, OpIndia, shared the claim widely.
Social media users Major Surendra Poonia, Megh Updates, and Times Now Navbharat journalist Amit Sahu, Senior Associate Editor at New Indian Pramod Kumar Singh, shared the claim.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian Fact Check team verified the viral claim and found it to be false. The aircraft didn’t fly over Pakistan.
We conducted a keyword search across Twitter and came across a tweet by Sidhant Sibal, a correspondent from WION. Casting doubts on the claim, Sibal said in his tweet, “On reports of Indian C17 with relief to Turkiye not using Pakistan airspace, can point out that Indian military planes don’t use Pakistan airspace nor New Delhi seeks Islamabad’s permission to use its airspace.”
Sibal also pointed out that India did not use Pakistan airspace during the evacuation of Indians stranded in Afghanistan in 2021.
We also came across a tweet by India Today journalist Ankiit Koomar who rubbished the claims that Pakistan had denied airspace to India. He shared a clip showing a simulation of the IAF aircraft’s flight path.
“Don’t agree with assessments suggesting Pakistan denying airspace to IAF relief flight to Turkey. There is no confirmation if IAF sought permission to use Pakistan airspace. The flight path also shows no indication of inclination to use Pakistani airspace Turkey Earthquake,” he said in his tweet.
The flight path shared by Koomar shows the aircraft steering clear of Pakistani airspace. Scanning the replies to his tweet, we came across an article by India Today published on February 7, 2023, titled, ‘Indian Air Force not flying over Pak while going to Turkey, Syria for relief ops’.
The report notes that Indian Air Force planes are not flying over Pakistani airspace while going to Turkey and Syria for relief operations. The reason ascribed to this is that military aircraft don’t fly over the neighboring country as per the standard operating procedure. The India Today report quotes an IAF official who said, “Our aircraft don’t fly over Pakistan as this is our standard operating procedure. Our planes take a longer route by flying from the Gujarat side to avoid Pakistani air space while going towards Europe or West Asia.”
Conclusion:
We found that the viral claim that Pakistan had denied airspace to India’s C-17 plane carrying relief aid is false. The IAF dismissed this claim by stating that military aircraft don’t fly over Pakistan, per the standard operating procedure.
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Fact Check
2023-02-13 10:07:10.0
News Outlets Falsely Claim That Pakistan Prevented The Entry Of India’s Relief Aircraft Travelling To Turkey
