India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan’s claim of there being a delay in the grant of permission for use of its airspace for ongoing relief operations in cyclone-hit Sri Lanka.
Reacting to reports in the Pakistani media that India did not grant overflight facility to Pakistan to send aid to Sri Lanka, India said the claims are “fake”, adding that the permission was “processed at the shortest notice period of four hours”.
People familiar with the matter added that India had expeditiously heeded to Pakistan’s request on Monday to use Indian airspace to send humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, which has been battered by Cyclone Ditwah, losing hundreds of people and leaving many missing due to widespread flooding, landslides and infrastructure collapse.
“Pakistani media, as usual, is indulging in propaganda and peddling fake news. These allegations are baseless and misleading. All requests for overflight or transit are processed strictly in accordance with established procedures and international norms,” said one of the people.
The Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday claimed that Islamabad’s relief efforts were being “hampered by lack of cooperation” by India which was “delaying permission to allow it to use its air space”.
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“India continues to block humanitarian assistance from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. The special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka continues to face delays for over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India,” the FO said in a social media post.
It further claimed that the “partial flight clearance issued by India last night, after 48 hours, was operationally impractical: time-bound for just a few hours and without validity for the return flight, severely hindering this urgent relief Mission for the brotherly people of Sri Lanka.”
India, on the other hand, said the official request for overflight was submitted by Pakistan at around 1300 hours (Indian time) on Monday and India expeditiously cleared the request and intimated the same to Pakistan at 1730 hours (Indian time).
India launched ‘Operation Sagar Bandhu’ to help Sri Lanka recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) has confirmed at least 410 deaths and 336 missing till Tuesday morning in the catastrophic floods and landslides occurring since November 16.
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