India preventing humanitarian assistance reaching cyclone-hit Sri Lanka: FO

Pakistan said on Tuesday that India continued to block humanitarian assistance from Pakistan to Sri Lanka, where half a million people were hit by a cyclone last week.

In a post on X, the Foreign Office (FO) said that the special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka continued to face delay for over 60 hours.

“Now awaiting flight clearance from India,” the post said.

“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.”

It is pertinent to mention that India and Pakistan closed their airspaces to each other’s aircraft since tensions between them rose in April this year.

Last week, Cyclone Ditwah, packing strong winds and heavy rains, brought the island nation’s worst floods in a decade when it struck on Friday, setting off landslides in the hilly central region.

As per the official figures, the death toll had climbed to 355, with 366 missing.

Moreover, over 833,000 individuals (or more than 230,000 families) have been affected, forcing tens of thousands to seek refuge in emergency shelters.

While the storm moves away, the government also declared a state of emergency to expedite recovery.

Moreover, Pakistan Navy personnel also evacuated a family stranded in Sri Lanka floods on Monday.

During the ongoing Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) efforts in Sri Lanka, the Z-9 helicopter embarked on Pakistan Navy Ship SAIF conducted rescue operations in the flooded Kotikawatta area, Colombo, Sri Lanka, DGPR Navy said.

It said during search and rescue operation the family, including a 7-month-old infant, stranded for the last five days were safely recovered from a rooftop.