ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that he would consider a plea from Afghanistan to allow transit of Indian wheat via Pakistan as he urged the international community to fulfil its collective responsibility to avert a grave humanitarian crisis confronting the people of strife-torn country.
His remarks came amidst a visit of acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi who landed here on Wednesday, heading a 20-member high-level delegation, on his maiden foreign trip.
He said that Pakistan would favourably consider the request by Afghan brothers for transportation of wheat offered by India through Pakistan on an exceptional basis for humanitarian purposes and as per modalities to be worked out, ARY News said in a report.
“The Prime Minister conveyed that in the current context Pakistan would favourably consider the request by Afghan brothers for transportation of wheat offered by India through Pakistan on exceptional basis for humanitarian purposes and as per modalities to be worked out,” the Prime Minister’s Office said on Twitter.
India has contributed to the humanitarian requirements of the Afghan people.
This included providing more than 1 million metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan over the past decade.
Last year too India assisted Afghanistan with 75,000 metric tonnes of wheat, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said at the United Nations High-Level Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan in September.
However, there were reports that Pakistan has blocked India’s efforts to provide wheat to the Afghan people, amidst the chill in relations between New Delhi and Islamabad over the Kashmir issue.
Khan on Thursday also “urged the international community to fulfil its collective responsibility to avert a grave humanitarian crisis confronting people of Afghanistan.”
Pakistan has been trying to convince the world to diplomatically engage with the Taliban after they seized control of Kabul on August 15.
However, the international community is still sceptical about the hardline Islamists, especially on issues like terrorism emanating from the war-torn country and their promises to respect human rights.
Afghanistan has been under Taliban rule since August 15 when the Afghan militant group ousted the elected government of President Ashraf Ghani and forced him to flee the country and take refuge in the UAE.
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