The Pakistani government issued an emergency NOTAM on August 19 and 20, imposing a ban on aircraft movement across nearly 750 kilometers of its airspace. While closing airspace for routine military exercises is common, defense experts suspect that shutting down such a massive stretch of 750 km points to the testing of some major missile or rocket system.
In particular, reports suggest that these arrangements may have been made specifically to test a new version belonging to Pakistan’s Fatah missile series. Pakistan already possesses the Fatah-1 and Fatah-2 missiles, and reports about a Fatah-4 have also surfaced in the past. Although missiles referred to as Fatah-3 and Fatah-5 have been announced, their details remain classified. Pakistan is developing these missiles in order to strike distant enemy targets with precision, without relying solely on fighter jets. For this purpose, it has also specifically set up an Army Rocket Force Command.
Before this missile-testing news, an important political development took place. The US Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, recently visited Srinagar and met with Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. On this occasion, he stated that Jammu and Kashmir is an extremely important part of India.
Pakistan strongly objected to these remarks made by the American ambassador. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the American diplomat to register its protest. Immediately after this dispute occurred, Pakistan issued a NOTAM closing off 750 km of airspace — leading to discussion over whether Pakistan made this decision as a way of demonstrating its protest.