ISLAMABAD: A Foreign Office spokesman today [May 7] expressed surprise over an Indian Radio broadcast saying that the forthcoming civil aviation talks in New Delhi would cover a bilateral settlement of Pakis­tan’s claim against India pending before the International Civil Aviation Organisation… . The claim arose when India stopped the overflights of PIA to the Eastern Wing of Pakistan in 1971. The broadcast over AIR … was an attempt by the radio to prejudge the issue, the spokesman said. The same broadcast tendentiously suggested that Islamabad had asked for a discussion on the Sallal Dam project. On the contrary, the spokesman pointed out that it was India which had been requesting that in addition to civil aviation matters, the project of Sallal Dam should also be considered.

[Meanwhile as reported by news agencies from Rawalpindi,] Pakistan can now expect more amount than last year’s total aid of 500 million dollars, a statement issued at the end of … Aid-to-Pakistan Consortium meeting in Paris … said. Despite her present difficulties, Pakistan has good prospect of achieving satisfactory economic progress and becoming self-sufficient in food, the statement said.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2025