NEW DELHI Nearly a month after Pakistan said it’ll allow transportation of philanthropic aid for the Afghan people via the Wagah land border crossing, New Delhi has not been suitable to transport any wheat as Islamabad has not finalised modalities.
The Indian side made the offer for transferring tonnes of wheat and drugs via Wagah on October 7 and entered a response from Pakistan only on November 24. On December 3, Pakistan said it’ll allow Indian relief accoutrements to be packed via the border crossing only in Afghan exchanges.
“ The transportation of wheat via Wagah is yet to begin as we’re still staying to hear from the Pakistani side on all the modalities,” a person familiar with developments said on condition of obscurity on Tuesday.
People familiar with the matter said the tardy approach of the Pakistani side was surprising as indeed the Taliban setup in Kabul raised the issue with the Pakistan government in view of the critical need for food particulars amid a philanthropic extremity in Afghanistan. A Taliban delegation led by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi that visited Islamabad in November specifically bandied the issue of allowing the payload of wheat from India with top Pakistani leaders.
On November 12, well before the formal blessings were conveyed to India, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s office twittered on his meeting with Muttaqi, publicizing the high minister’s assurance to “ favourably consider the request by Afghan sisters for transportation of wheat” from India.
India has so far transferred1.6 tonnes of life- saving drugs to Afghanistan on a special duty flight to Kabul on December 11. The flight brought 104 people, utmost of them Afghan Sikhs and Hindus, from Kabul to New Delhi, and returned with 85 Afghan citizens who were stranded in India following the Taliban preemption of Afghanistan inmid-August.
The force of drugs, which were handed over to the World Health Organization (WHO) for use at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health in Kabul, was praised by the Taliban.
The Indian side doesn’t honor the Taliban governance but has constantly said it’ll give aid for the Afghan people in view of the philanthropic extremity. As there are no direct breakouts between the two countries, the Indian side proposed that the wheat should be transported via Pakistan.
