NO ISRAELI JET LANDED IN PAK, SAYS GOVT

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan’s political circles and social media are abuzz with speculation about a private jet’s reported flight from Tel Aviv to Islamabad via Amman, with authorities saying on Saturday that no Israeli aircraft had landed anywhere in the country.

The speculation began after Avi Scharf, the editor of the English edition of Israel’s Haaretz news website, tweeted on Thursday that a business jet had flown from Tel Aviv to Islamabad and remained on the ground for 10 hours before flying back to Tel Aviv.

After the tweet was widely shared and resulted in a lot of speculation, information minister Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday denied reports of an Israeli jet landing in Islamabad.

He said Pakistan would not negotiate in secret with Israel or India.

Responding to remarks by former minister and PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal seeking a clarification, Chaudhry said in a tweet that the Imran Khan government “would not negotiate secretly with either (Indian Prime Minister Narendra) Modi or Israel”. He added that Pakistan is in “safe hands”.

The aviation regulator, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), also denied reports of the presence of an Israeli aircraft in Pakistani airspace or at any of the country’s airports and described the report as “totally baseless”.

Pakistan and Israel do not have diplomatic relations and aircraft registered in either country cannot enter each other’s airspace.

However, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf had authorised his government to establish contact with Israel.