Pakistan on Saturday confirmed that it had asked India to route its aid through the UN. Islamabad’s stand on New Delhi’s offer reflected its reluctance to let the aid from its eastern neighbour go directly to the people in the flood-hit areas.
India officially maintained that the modalities of delivering the aid to Pakistan were still being finalised. But sources in New Delhi said India would have no objection to any delivery route proposed by Pakistan if it ensured that the aid reached the flood-hit people at the earliest. “The need of the hour is to rush the aid to those who need it through the fastest possible means,” said a highly placed official. It would hardly matter if New Delhi’s aid was routed through the UN or the Pakistan Government.
“What we would like to see is that the assistance offered by us reached NGOs, local organisations and others working on the ground soon so that they could deliver relief materials to people,” said the official.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told a TV news channel that the Islamabad had asked New Delhi to route its $ 5 million aid through the UN. This message did not come as a surprise for New Delhi, for Islamabad had not responded for several days after External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had called up his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on August 13 last to offer India’s assistance of $ 5 million to the flood-hit people. The US had subsequently nudged the Pakistani Government to accept the offer from India.
But it was only after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called up his counterpart Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on August 19 last and renewed the offer that Pakistan confirmed that it was ready to accept the aid.
Krishna’s call to Qureshi and that of Singh to Gilani were the first high-level contacts between India and Pakistan after the foreign minister level talks between the two countries had ended almost in a public spat in Islamabad on July 15 last.
Pakistani newspapers quoted Gilani as saying that it would be “strange” if Islamabad refused to accept the aid offer from India at a time when it was pushing for resumption of dialogue with New Delhi. But, according to the sources, Pakistan showed little interest to discuss with India the modalities of delivering the aid even after the Singh-Gilani talks over phone.
The floods wreaked havoc on Pakistan, killing approximately 1,500 people and destroying 1.2 million homes.
Sources in New Delhi said India was worried over reports about the participation of certain organisations with suspected terrorist links in the relief and rescue operations and informally shared its concern with the US and other countries providing flood aid to Pakistan.