Manmohan calls up Gilani, renews flood aid offer
2010-08-19 17:40:00
Last Updated: 2010-08-19 20:07:58
In this Wednesday, Aug. 18, 2010 photo, residents move a damaged car on a s...
Islamabad: With Pakistan dithering over accepting India's offer of $5 million
aid for flood victims, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday renewed the
aid
offer when he spoke to his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani and
conveyed
his sorrow over the tragedy.
Manmohan Singh expressed sorrow and condoled the deaths due to the devastating
floods in Pakistan, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement in New
Delhi.
The prime minister told Gilani that the government of India had already made an
offer of assistance and was ready to do more to assist in the relief effort.
Pakistan floods shape an archipelago of misery
Calling for a larger regional solidarity in the face of natural calamities,
Manmohan Singh said that all of South Asia should rise to the occasion and
extend every possible help to the people of Pakistan affected by the tragedy.
India had Aug 13 offered $5 million aid to Pakistan that is grappling with the
worst-ever floods that have left over 1,600 people dead and affected over 20
million.
But Pakistan has yet to revert to India on accepting the aid, said an official.
If Pakistan accepts aid, the modalities will have to be worked out for sending
the aid across the border, the official added. India has also indicated that it
was ready to route the aid through UN agencies.
Pakistan's Dawn News reported Thursday that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi has thanked India for offering the aid. Qureshi, who is on a visit to
the US, profusely thanked India, it reported.
Sources in the Pakistan foreign ministry have said India's offer is being
considered. 'We have not rejected the offer outright and a decision would be
made soon,' a senior official had been quoted as saying.
In Islamabad, Ansar Burney, Pakistan's former minister for human rights, has
urged the Pakistan government to accept the donation offered by India 'in the
greater interest of peace and love'. On the one hand they are begging the world
for help and accepting all donations and on the other they are not accepting a
donation of 'love and peace' from India, Burney said.
Accept Indian aid, no role for politics in disaster: US to Pak
India would like Pakistan to see the aid offer as an important gesture to
create
a positive atmosphere despite bitter recriminations that followed the July 15
talks between the foreign ministers of the two countries.
In the wake of a massive earthquake in October 2005, India had sent three
consignments of relief material including tents, blankets and medicines. This
was the first time Indian Air Force (IAF) planes had landed in Islamabad to
deliver relief material. According to some reports, Pakistan did not use the
Indian aid.
Ur's
M.K.
"making impossible possible"
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