The Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday that India was preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka by air, prompting Islamabad to send aid by sea to the South Asian island, where there have been severe floods and landslides caused by Cyclone Ditwah They have claimed more than 400 lives.
In a post on
“The partial flight clearance issued by India last night, after 48 hours, was operationally impracticable: with limited deadlines for a few hours and no validity for the return flight, seriously hampering this urgent relief mission for the brotherly people of Sri Lanka.”
A statement later issued by Pakistan’s High Commission in Sri Lanka said the planes were awaiting clearance to fly and accused India of blocking the humanitarian aid operation through “mischief”.
The statement said a “robust relief operation” was launched following special directives from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who had ordered the “immediate mobilization of national resources” to support Sri Lanka during its hour of need.
He said that since Saturday, Pakistan Army and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have been ready for relief operations in Sri Lanka.
“However, for more than two days, Pakistan’s emergency relief mission, comprising C-130 aircraft carrying a fully equipped urban search and rescue team, field hospitals, highly trained sniffer dogs and nearly 200 tonnes of life-saving supplies, has remained stranded at Noor Khan Air Base in Islamabad due to delaying tactics deployed by India to grant flight clearance to C-130 aircraft.
“India, in a shrewd move, granted a one-day diplomatic clearance at 6 pm on November 1 through its embassy in Islamabad. The clearance was valid for about six hours for Pakistan’s assisted relief and emergency planes to depart, which was not enough for one plane to fly to and from Colombo.
“Previously, Indian authorities reportedly engaged in deliberate delay tactics, repeatedly asking Pakistan to resubmit and reroute flight plans despite having already received complete documentation. These procedural hurdles appear to cause further delays, undermining the timely delivery of aid to a disaster-affected neighbor.”
The high commission said that by delaying emergency humanitarian aid, India had ignored universally accepted standards of humanitarian conduct.
“The behavior is insensitive, politically motivated and violates established international humanitarian norms, UN guiding principles and the principles of the SAARC humanitarian charter.”
The high commission said India’s “continued use of procedural maneuvers and airspace restrictions” raised serious concerns about its compliance with humanitarian obligations and its commitment to regional solidarity in times of tragedy.
“Pakistan expects India to adopt a responsible and humanitarian approach by granting immediate access to airspace with feasible operational flight time and refrain from politicizing a purely humanitarian mission meant for the people of Sri Lanka in times of distress.
“Having an everlasting bilateral friendship, the humanitarian relief supply operation conveys the sincere solidarity of the Pakistani nation with its Sri Lankan brothers and sisters and underlines the powerful message that Sri Lanka is not alone and Pakistan will always stand by it,” the statement said.
Later that day, the FO said 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid had been sent by sea due to the delay in authorizing the overflights.
“Pakistan has sent 200 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka via sea cargo to support relief efforts following the devastating cyclone Ditwah,” the FO wrote in
“Pakistan stands in full solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka,” the post said.
The development comes a day after diplomatic sources said Sunrise that Pakistan had received permission from India to use its airspace for humanitarian aid flights to Sri Lanka to provide flood relief.
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a state of emergency to deal with what he called “the most challenging natural disaster in our history.”
It is worth mentioning that India and Pakistan have closed their airspace to each other’s planes due to tensions between them. scaling in April following a stroke in Pahalgam in Indian-occupied Kashmir, which killed 26 people and the subsequent four-day conflict. In October, Islamabad extended the airspace ban until November 24.
Death toll from Sri Lanka floods reaches 410
The death toll from floods and landslides in Sri Lanka was now 410, the Disaster Management Center said on Tuesday, with another 336 people missing after a week of heavy rain.
It said more than 1.5 million people were affected by the worst natural disaster to hit the country since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
An official in the central town of Welimada told local reporters he expected the death toll to rise, as his staff dug through the mud for victims buried by the landslides.
Meanwhile, in the capital Colombo, flood waters were slowly receding on Tuesday.
The speed with which waters rose in the city surprised local residents accustomed to seasonal flooding.
“Every year we experience small floods, but this is something else,” said delivery driver Dinusha Sanjaya. AFP.
Rainfall has eased across the country, but landslide warnings remain in effect in most of the hard-hit central region, officials said.
