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Working on modalities with Pakistan for shipping wheat to Afghan people: India
Pakistan formally informed India on Wednesday that it would allow the shipment of the wheat and medicines to Afghanistan via the Wagah land border as a goodwill gesture to the Afghan people.
India said on Friday it is working out modalities with Pakistan for transporting 50,000 tonnes of wheat and medicines as humanitarian aid to Afghanistan via land routes but insisted that no conditions should be attached by the Pakistani side.
India made the proposal for shipping the wheat and life-saving medicines to the people of Afghanistan via Pakistani soil on October 7, and received an assurance from the Pakistan government only on November 24; external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told a regular news briefing.
He made it clear that no conditions should be attached by Pakistan to the shipment of the humanitarian assistance.
“This was about humanitarian access into Afghanistan for the delivery of the 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and life-saving medicines we are supplying to the people of Afghanistan,” he said.
“We are examining the response of the government of Pakistan. We are also working on the modalities with the Pakistan side. We believe that humanitarian assistance should not be subject to conditionalities,” he added.
India has always stood by the people of Afghanistan for both humanitarian support and development assistance, Bagchi said.
Pakistan formally informed India on Wednesday that it would allow the shipment of the wheat and medicines to Afghanistan via the Wagah land border as a goodwill gesture to the Afghan people.
There are currently no flights between India and Afghanistan, and transporting the materials via Pakistan was seen as the quickest way of getting the aid to Afghanistan, which is on the brink of a looming humanitarian crisis.
Even a Taliban delegation led by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi that recently visited Islamabad had raised the issue of allowing the shipment of the wheat with the top Pakistani leadership.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday his government would allow the transportation of the wheat as soon as modalities were finalised by Islamabad and New Delhi.
The UN has warned up to 23 million Afghans will be in “crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity” as winter approaches. Ten out of 11 of Afghanistan’s most densely populated urban areas are now anticipated to be at emergency levels of food insecurity.
