From Feb 22, Delhi to send wheat to Kabul overland through Pak in Afghan trucks, says Pak minister

With this, India and Pakistan appear to have resolved a key difference that was holding up Delhi’s commitment to sending 50,000 tons of wheat as humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Cabinet had given its approval for India to send the consignment overland through its territory to Afghanistan last November, after India made a proposal in October. But the transportation itself became a sticking point.

Sources here said Islamabad wanted the wheat to be transported in Pakistani trucks provided by the National Logistics Cell, a trucking operation affiliated to Pakistan Army. New Delhi wanted to send it in Indian trucks.

Using Afghan trucks was a compromise solution.

The resolution came soon after a pact between New Delhi and the World Food Programme (WFP) signed over the weekend to supply foodgrain to Afghanistan as a humanitarian gesture. The pact with WFP was signed on Saturday — between the Indian embassy in Italy and WFP officials in Rome.

The consignments are to be sent in Afghan trucks that will pick up the wheat from Atari and take it through Pakistan’s Torkham border to Jalalabad in Afghanistan.

Sources in New Delhi said the consignment would be sent after Punjab Assembly polls on February 20.

The first proposal from India to Pakistan was sent in early October, and it has taken more than four months of negotiations to get the proposal implemented.

Chaudhary said Pakistan welcomes India’s gesture of sending wheat to Afghanistan, where a shortage of money and food has created a humanitarian crisis.

In response to pleas by humanitarian agencies for a waiver of sanctions, a UN resolution in December carved out exemptions, but very little aid has reached the country due to fears of misappropriation by the Taliban. “We want all countries to help Afghanistan. We welcome the Indian gesture of sending this humanitarian assistance,” Chaudhary said.

He said trucks from Afghanistan would travel through Pakistan to Atari, where the wheat would be unloaded from Indian trucks and loaded into Afghan vehicles. These trucks would then cross back into Pakistani territory. After security checks at Wagah, they would be allowed to proceed towards the Torkham crossing.

“It’s a security issue as well, because Indian truck drivers don’t speak Pashto,” said Chaudhary.

He said Pakistan had also wanted certification from Indian authorities that the consignment of wheat was free of disease, which has now been provided. He said a related concern was that the consignments should be transported in fully sealed trucks so that there was no danger of grain spilling out en route.

India, which has said it wants to help the Afghan people, has sent 5 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kabul, and more than 6 tons of life-saving drugs in at least four batches through WHO.

(With ENS, New Delhi)