“Humanitarian assistance should not be subject to any conditions,'' said Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs (MEA) at a media briefing on Thursday. He was responding to a query on the plan to send wheat and relief materials to Afghanistan via Pakistan.
Islamabad had granted permission to India to send 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and other medical material to Afghanistan through the land route via Pakistan. However, later Pakistan imposed conditions, saying it would only allow the consignments to be taken across the Wagah border on its own trucks, not Indian ones. India prefers sending its own trucks. The consignment, thus, hasn't yet been dispatched.
The United Nations said there is a humanitarian crisis developing in Afghanistan. India, during the last 20 years, was in the forefront in sending relief and aid to Afghanistan, and also in rebuilding the country. After the takeover by Taliban, however, diplomatic ties have come to a standstill. Pakistan allowed transit of trade from Afghanistan to India earlier, but not the other way round. Even the trucks coming from Kabul would be held over for long periods at check points, thus rendering most of the consignment of fresh fruit waste.
India and Afghanistan had opened an air freight corridor in 2016. India was also transporting aid via sea route, using the Chabahar port in Iran, which India had developed primarily as an alternate access to Kabul. With the regime change in Afghanistan, however, both these modes have been suspended. Taliban leadership has made some noise about its keenness to have these services resumed, but they haven't taken the matter forward. India, meanwhile, has not recognised the Taliban government, and has not shown any inclination to work with them anytime soon.
India recently convened a meeting of senior security officers of the countries in the neighbourhood, in which both Pakistan and China were absent.
