The Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday that India was obstructing Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka, where catastrophic flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah have claimed more than 400 lives.
In a post on X, the FO stated: “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 delay for over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India. 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.”
The statement followed reports a day earlier that Pakistan had been granted permission by India to use its airspace for relief flights to Sri Lanka. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has declared a state of emergency, describing the situation as the “most challenging natural disaster in our history”. India and Pakistan have kept their airspace closed to each other’s aircraft since tensions escalated in April following an attack in India-occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people and the subsequent four-day conflict. Islamabad later extended its airspace ban until November 24.
Sri Lanka Flooding Death Toll Rises to 410
Sri Lanka’s Disaster Management Centre reported on Tuesday that the death toll from the flooding and landslides had climbed to 410, with 336 people still missing after a week of relentless rains. More than 1.5 million people have been affected, marking the country’s worst natural disaster since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Local authorities in Welimada warned that fatalities were likely to increase as rescue teams continued to recover bodies from landslide-hit areas. In Colombo, floodwaters began receding on Tuesday, though residents said the speed at which the waters rose was unprecedented.“Every year we see minor floods, but this was completely different,” delivery driver Dinusha Sanjaya told AFP.
While rainfall has eased, landslide warnings remain in place across much of the devastated central region, officials added.
