After 4 months delay, Pakistan allows Indian humanitarian relief passage to Afghanistan
Feb 16, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 17 : Contradicting its own stated policy, while pleading to the international community for rushing humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, Pakistan took four months to allow Indian humanitarian relief for Afghans.
The move will allow passage of Indian food relief of 50,000 tons of wheat for Afghan people through Pakistan's territory, reported Islam Khabar.
Afghan trucks will run from Torkham on the Afghan-Pak border to Wagah on Pakistan's border with India, cross to Attari to load wheat and take them home.
Belatedly, the Afghans can hope to receive 50,000 tons of Indian wheat, to be made into bread for their families facing severe food shortages and economic hardship - besides a harsh winter and a rampaging pandemic.
But this could still take time. Only 60 trucks can ply daily to collect such a large quantity. The initial Pakistani permission was to complete it all in one month by the end of December, which is long past, reported Islam Khabar.
Some procedural hurdles remain. As of now, the Afghan trucks would start collecting wheat (a total of 50,000 tonnes) from Feb 22 and the entire exercise would take a month. Logistically, this is a difficult task.
Although India made the offer last October, Pakistan had opposed the transit for Indian goods, in spite of the fact that it was a humanitarian relief in response to a United Nations appeal, reported Islam Khabar.
In the changed stance, Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on February 14, 2022: "When we are asking the whole world to help the Afghan people, how can we stop India from doing so?"
