• Islamabad dispatches 200 tonnes by sea amid ‘delaying tactics’ by New Delhi
• PM condoles with Sri Lankan president as death toll tops 400

KARACHI: The Foreign Office said on Tuesday that India was preventing humanitarian assistance from being sent to Sri Lanka by air, prompting Islamabad to send aid by sea to the South Asian island, where severe flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have claimed more than 400 lives.

“India continues to block hum­an­itarian assistance from Pakis­tan to Sri Lanka. The special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka continues to face a delay of over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India,” the Foreign Office said in a social media post.

“The partial flight clearance issued by India last night, after 48 hours, was operationally impractical: time-bound for just a few hours and without validity for the return flight, severely hindering this urgent relief mission for the brotherly people of Sri Lanka,” it added.

A statement issued later by the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka said aircraft were awaiting clearance to fly and accused India of blocking the humanitarian relief operation through “shenanigans”.

The statement said that a “robust relief operation” was initiated on the special directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who had instructed the “immediate mobilisation of national resources” to support Sri Lanka during its hour of need.

It said that since Saturday, the Pakistan Army and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have been ready for relief operations in Sri Lanka.

“However, for more than two days, Pakistan’s emergency relief mission comprising C-130 aircraft carrying a fully equipped urban search and rescue team, field hospitals, highly trained sniffer dogs and nearly 200 tonnes of life-saving supplies have remained stranded at Noor Khan Air Base in Islamabad due to delaying tactics deployed by India in granting flight clearance to C-130 aircraft,” it said.

“India, in a cunning move, has granted one day diplomatic clearance at 1800 hours on Nov 1 through its embassy in Islamabad. The clearance was valid for around six hours for Pakistan’s assisted emergency and relief aircraft to depart, which was not sufficient for an aircraft to move back and forth to Colombo,” it added.

It said Indian authorities were earlier reportedly engaged in deliberate delaying tactics, repeatedly asking Pakistan to resubmit and re-route flight plans despite already receiving complete documentation. “These procedural hurdles appear to cause further delays, undermining timely relief delivery to a disaster-struck neighbour,” it lamented.

The high commission said that by delaying emergency humanitarian aid, India had disregarded universally accepted norms of humanitarian conduct.

Later in the day, the Foreign Office said that 200 tonnes of humanitarian aid had been dispatched by sea due to the delay in authorising overflights.

“Pakistan has dispatched 200 tonnes of humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka via sea cargo to support relief efforts following the devastating Cyclone Ditwah,” it posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), adding that a

send-off ceremony was held for the cargo, attended by Sri Lanka High Commissioner to Pakistan Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne, among other officials.

The development comes a day after diplomatic sources told Dawn that Pakistan had received India’s permission to use its airspace for humanitarian aid flights to Sri Lanka to provide flood relief.

PM expresses grief

Meanwhile, PM Shehbaz received a telephone call on Tuesday evening from Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

During the conversation, the prime minister expressed grief over the loss of life and widespread destruction caused by Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka.

The premier conveyed condolences to the people and the government of Sri Lanka, especially to the families who lost their loved ones in the catastrophic floods and landslides that claimed hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of people across the country.

The SL president thanked PM Shehbaz for Pakistan’s expression of solidarity with his nation, as well as for the provision of humanitarian assistance. He appreciated that Pakistan was among the first countries to respond in the wake of the cyclone.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2025