Islamabad (TDI): Pakistan has said that India is delaying the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, where severe flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have claimed over 400 lives.
In a statement on X, the Foreign Office (FO) said India had been preventing Pakistan’s relief aircraft from reaching Sri Lanka. “The special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance continues to face delays of over 60 hours awaiting flight clearance from India,” the FO said.
It added that a partial clearance issued overnight was operationally impractical, valid for only a few hours and without authorization for the return journey, severely hindering urgent relief efforts for the people of Sri Lanka.
The development comes after reports that Pakistan had initially received permission from India to use its airspace for aid flights, following months of restricted aviation between the two countries due to heightened tensions over Kashmir earlier this year.
Read More: Aid Rushed to Asia Flood Survivors as Death Toll Approaches 1,200
Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency, calling the disaster the “most challenging natural calamity in our history.” The Disaster Management Centre reported Tuesday that 410 people have died, with another 336 still missing, and more than 1.5 million affected, marking the worst such event since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Read More: India Allows Airspace Access to Pakistan for Sri Lanka-Bound Humanitarian Flights
In the central town of Welimada, local officials warned the death toll could rise as rescue teams continued digging through mud and debris to recover victims buried in landslides. In the capital Colombo, floodwaters are slowly receding, though residents were shocked at the speed with which the waters rose. Authorities have kept landslide alerts in force in the hardest-hit central regions despite easing rains.
