Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Government of Pakistan allowed transportation of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and lifesaving medicines from India to Afghanistan via Wagah on an “exceptional basis”, the Foreign Office said on Wednesday.
Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said Pakistan has been “closely coordinating with all sides to facilitate smooth transit of the humanitarian assistance”.
“The first batch of 41 Afghan trucks, which entered into Pakistan through Torkham is returning to Afghanistan today after loading the Indian wheat consignment at Attari-Wagah,” he said. Pakistan and India earlier this month agreed on a mechanism for transportation of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat and lifesaving medicines from New Delhi to Afghanistan via Wagha Border.
Sources had said Islamabad allowed Afghan trucks and drivers to transport wheat from India to Afghanistan. “India has handed over a list of 60 Afghan trucks and their drivers who will transport the consignment and had asked Pakistan to issue visas to them,” the sources said and added that India would start supplying wheat from February 16.
Pakistan in recent months has also sent food and medicine to Afghanistan.
Pakistan and India have a history of bitter relations driven by their dispute over the province of occupied Kashmir, which is divided between the two countries but claimed by both in its entirety.
Pakistan suspended trade with India in 2019 after New Delhi stripped the Indian-occupied section of Kashmir of its statehood and special constitutional status. Since then, normal diplomatic and trade ties between them have not resumed.
Like the rest of the world, Pakistan and India have so far not recognized the Taliban government.
New Delhi has no diplomatic presence in Kabul after evacuating its staff ahead of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August. It did, however, meet with a Taliban representative in Qatar on August 31.
Before the Taliban took Kabul, India provided Afghan security forces with operational training and military equipment, even though it had no troops on the ground.
The UN has warned that millions are on the brink of starvation in Afghanistan, with over half the population staring at extreme hunger.
