NEW DELHI, Oct 15: India on Saturday allowed Pakistan to fly rescue helicopters to remote parts of the earthquake-hit Azad Kashmir through the forbidden no-fly zone adjoining the Line of Control.
“We received a request from Pakistan on Oct 13 to fly helicopters in the peacetime no-fly zone (one kilometre along the LoC). We are conveying our agreement today to this request, provided permission is taken on a case-by-case basis,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said.
Mr Sarna however clarified that India had received no request from Pakistan to cross over the LoC to have access for relief work as reported in a section of the media.
“We have seen a news report that India is delaying action on a request by Pakistan to cross over the LoC so as to have access for relief work. It is clarified that we have received no such request from Pakistan,” Mr Sarna added.
Pakistan officials said a written Indian permission to use the airspace to access difficult territories in Azad Kashmir was handed by India on Saturday. Operation details will be worked out by the DGMOs of the two sides.
The officials also revealed that Jamiaut ul Islam-i-Hind had collected 10,000 badly needed tents and was planning to dispatch them to Peshawar on trucks. A convoy of eight trucks carrying 1,500 tents and other relief material was sent on Friday by the Delhi Sikh community, they said.
India on Friday sent a freight train to Pakistan with four wagons of relief supplies for the earthquake victims. The freight train reached Lahore on Saturday.
