Pakistan accuses India of blocking aid flight to Sri Lanka, a claim New Delhi dismisses as “anti-India misinformation”.
NEW DELHI: Pakistan has accused bitter rival India of blocking an air delivery of humanitarian aid to cyclone-hit Sri Lanka.
India dismissed the claim as “anti-India misinformation”, stating it had granted clearance to the Pakistani aid aircraft within hours of the request.
The diplomatic spat centres on a Pakistani request to let an aid aircraft fly over India en route to Sri Lanka, a much shorter route than circumventing the subcontinent.
Islamabad’s foreign ministry said the special aircraft “continues to face delay for over 60 hours now, awaiting flight clearance from India”.
It claimed India gave only a “time-bound” clearance with no assurance for the return route, making the flight “operationally impractical”.
India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal rejected “the ridiculous statement” from Pakistan.
“India remains committed to assisting the people of Sri Lanka in these challenging times through all available means,” Jaiswal said in a statement.
Both nations have extended an airspace ban on each other’s airlines since earlier this year, following the worst violence in decades between the nuclear-armed rivals.
Flash floods and deadly landslides across Sri Lanka have killed at least 410 people.
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency and called for international support, which both India and Pakistan have begun providing.
