Pak registers formal protest over airspace violations by IAF

Islamabad, Dec 18 (PTI) Pakistan Thursday registered a
formal protest against alleged violations of its airspace by
Indian fighter jets last week, an incident which New Delhi has
already denied.

India's Deputy High Commissioner Manpreet Vohra was
handed over a note regarding the alleged airspace violations
by Pakistan's Additional Secretary (South Asia) Aizaz Ahmad
Chaudhry during a meeting at the Foreign Office this morning,
diplomatic sources said.

The note conveyed Pakistan's concerns about the
incident and sought an explanation from India, they said.

The sources denied that Pakistan had issued a demarche
in connection with two alleged airspace violations that
occurred on December 13.

Pakistan has claimed two Indian jets entered its
airspace in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Lahore sectors.

Indian Air Force's spokesman Wing Commander Mahesh
Upasani denied that any of its combat jets had intruded into
Pakistani airspace.

Speaking a day later, President Asif Ali Zardari had
sought to play down the incident by describing them as a
"technical incursion". Zardari said such incidents occurred
when fighter jets made turns while flying at heights of up to
50,000 feet.

The Pakistan Air Force spokesman had said Indian
authorities had been contacted about the incident and he too
described it as a "technical incursion of a minor nature made
by mistake".

The war of words between India and Pakistan on the
issue comes as their armed forces have girded up to a state of
vigil along the borders with tensions between New Delhi and
Islamabad mounting over the terror attacks in Mumbai, which
has been blamed on Pakistan-based elements.