India rejects Pakistan's claim of blocking Sri Lanka relief flight as 'ridiculous'

Pakistan on Tuesday alleged that its relief operations for cyclone-hit Sri Lanka were being “hampered by lack of cooperation” by India by delaying permission to use its airspace, a claim India trashed as “ridiculous”.

"We reject the ridiculous statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, which is yet another attempt of spreading anti-India misinformation," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in response to media queries on the issue.

The request for overflight clearance for a Pakistani aircraft carrying humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka was received by the Indian high commission in Islamabad at around 1 pm on Monday, he said.

"Given the urgency of humanitarian assistance, the government of India processed the request expeditiously the same day and granted the overflight permission as per the itinerary proposed at 5:30 pm on December 1," Jaiswal added.

"India remains committed to assisting the people of Sri Lanka in these challenging times through all available means," he said.

The Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday claimed that Islamabad’s relief efforts were being “hampered by lack of cooperation” by India which was “delaying permission to allow it to use its air space”.

“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 delays for over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India,” the FO said in a social media post.

It further claimed: “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.”

Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and infrastructure collapse triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country’s disaster-response capacity.

India launched Operation Sagar Bandhu, to help Sri Lanka recover from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.

A report by the Disaster Management Centre on Tuesday at 6 pm showed that 465 people have been killed, with 366 missing, in catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.