NEW DELHI: The Indo-Pakistan talks on resumption of overflights and air links bet­ween the two countries ended in a deadlock tonight [May 19] because of New Delhi’s in­­sistence that Islamabad withdraw its case for compensation pending with the Inter­nat­ional Civil Aviation Organisation. Pakistan filed the case with ICAO following India’s ban on overflights between West Pakistan and East Pakistan in 1971. A joint communique on the five-day talks said the two Foreign Secretaries agreed that there was a need for another round of talks before this matter could be solved in a manner … fully satisfactory to both sides. This was the second unproductive round of talks on civil aviation. … The Pakistan delegation, led by Foreign Secretary Agha Shahi, tried hard to reach an agreement and even indicated Pakistan’s readiness to suspend … the case in ICAO pending further negotiations.

[Meanwhile as reported by news agencies from Beirut,] Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan, chief of the United Arab Emirates, has paid more than one million dollars for a letter believed to have been dictated by the Holy Prophet [PBUH]. … Tradition has it that the Holy Prophet sent it to the Emperor Heracleus of Byzantium.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2025