Wagah to Torkham Afghan trucks allowed to ship assistance

ISLAMABAD: Following allowing the transportation of 50,000 metric tons (MTs) of wheat and lifesaving medicines from India as humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan through Wagah border, Pakistan Friday decided to allow Afghan trucks for shipping the assistance from Wagah to Torkham.

“With a view to further facilitating Pakistan’s decision to allow transportation of 50,000 MT of wheat and lifesaving medicines from India to Afghanistan via Wagah border on an exceptional basis for humanitarian purposes, it has been decided to also allow the use of Afghan trucks for transportation from Wagah border to Torkham,” Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said.

He said that the decision was conveyed to the Charge d’Affaires of India on Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He added that the Indian government was also urged to proceed quickly to take necessary steps to expeditiously undertake the delivery of the humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

“This demonstrates the commitment and seriousness of the government of Pakistan to facilitate the proposed humanitarian assistance,” he added.

Pakistan donates three more truckloads of relief goods to Afghanistan

Sources privy to the development said that India wanted to transport its relief assistance to Afghanistan via the Indian truck, which Pakistan categorically refused to allow. They said that Pakistan had earlier conveyed to the Indian side that Pakistan truck would transport the relief items from Wagah border to Torkham and beyond.

On Thursday, Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told his weekly media briefing in New Delhi that Pakistan has linked its decision to allow India to transport the wheat and medicines as humanitarian aid to Afghanistan to the “condition” that relief materials be moved only by Pakistani trucks.

He maintained that India had made the proposal for shipping the wheat and medicines to the Afghan people via Pakistan on October 7 and received a response from Pakistan on November 24.

On November 24, Pakistan had conveyed its decision to the Indian side to allow the transportation of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and lifesaving medicines from India to Afghanistan via Wagah Border on an exceptional basis for humanitarian purposes and as a “goodwill gesture towards the brotherly Afghan people.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021