NEW DELHI, Oct 10: India will airlift on Tuesday the first consignment of 25 tonnes of relief material to quake-hit Pakistan in what is considered as the first humanitarian assistance from New Delhi to Islamabad, United News of India said.
It said the decision to provide relief material such as tents, plastic sheets, blankets, matresses, food items and a variety of medicines and other medical supplies was taken after a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan had with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Monday evening.
India had also offered to send medical teams and medicines directly to the affected areas which were closer to the Line of Control (LoC) and easier to access from this side, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters.
Asked whether the assistance was being airlifted to Islamabad, Mr Saran said it would be delivered wherever Pakistan wanted and the indication in this regard was still awaited.
To a question why India was not announcing any monetary assistance as had been done by other countries, Mr Saran said these were the items indicated by the Pakistan whose list had been circulated to heads of missions in Islamabad earlier in the day.
Further, India had agreed to allow Pakistani helicopters come close to the LoC to provide relief to the affected people.
Normally, helicopters were not allowed to come close to the LoC, the Foreign Secretary said.
More relief would be provided to Pakistan, depending upon requirements, he said.
