ISLAMABAD/COLOMBO: Pakistan on Tuesday accused India of deliberately obstructing humanitarian assistance meant for Sri Lanka, where catastrophic flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have killed more than 410 people and left hundreds missing.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said a special Pakistan Air Force relief aircraft had been stranded for over 60 hours, awaiting India’s flight clearance to cross its airspace.
“India continues to block humanitarian assistance from Pakistan to Sri Lanka,” Andrabi said, adding that New Delhi had issued a partial and impractical clearance window after 48 hours — valid only for a few hours and without permission for the return flight.
“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,” Andrabi said.
He said the delay had severely hindered Pakistan’s urgent relief mission for the “brotherly people of Sri Lanka,” where President Anura Kumara Dissanayake declared a nationwide state of emergency, calling the disaster “the most challenging natural calamity in our history.”
Worst Disaster Since the 2004 Tsunami
Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre (DMC) said the official death toll had climbed to 410, while 336 people remain missing after a week of relentless monsoon rains.
More than 1.5 million people have been affected across the island nation, marking the worst devastation since the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004.
Officials in several central districts warned that casualties could rise further as rescue teams continue to dig through deep mud and collapsed slopes in remote, landslide-hit areas.
Capital Flooded, Residents Caught Off-Guard
In Colombo, flood levels started receding on Tuesday, but residents said they had never witnessed such rapid inundation.
“Every year we experience minor floods, but this is something else,” delivery driver Dinusha Sanjaya told AFP.
Landslide warnings remain in place across the central highlands, the hardest-hit region.
India and Pakistan have kept their airspaces closed to each other’s aircraft since April, after tensions spiked following a militant attack in India’s illegally occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people and triggered a four-day border conflict.
In October, Islamabad extended its airspace ban until November 24, which has complicated overflight clearances for both civil and military aircraft.
Pakistan says India is using the situation politically, even as Sri Lanka grapples with a humanitarian emergency.
