Pakistan awaits Indian response on wheat shipment

Foreign office spokesperson suggests the delay is on the part of India

ISLAMABAD:

As nearly three weeks have passed since Pakistan placed all the necessary arrangements to facilitate Indian transportation of wheat to Afghanistan via the Wagah border, New Delhi has yet to communicate the date and other information about the first consignment.

At a weekly news conference here on Friday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said Pakistan had allowed India to transport wheat using its land route to Afghanistan on an exceptional basis.

“We have conveyed to the India side, necessary details of arrangements put in place by Pakistan, and for about 3 weeks now, are awaiting further response from India of the date of dispatch and other information regarding the first consignment, '' the spokesperson added.

India announced to donate 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance in October and sought Pakistan permission to transport food grain through the Wagah border.

Read more: India wheat transport issue resolved

Pakistan after careful consideration granted the permission but the two sides locked horns over the modalities. Since Pakistan otherwise never permits the two-way trade between India and Afghanistan through its borders, it initially proposed that wheat should be transported through Pakistani trucks under the UN banner.

New Delhi, however, made a counter-proposal, insisting that either the Indian or Afghan trucks should be used for the transportation. After many weeks of back and forth communication, the two sides finally agreed that the wheat would be transported through the Afghan trucks.

Officials said a list of Afghan truck drivers and contractors had already been finalized by both sides. But despite those arrangements, the foreign office said India had yet to kick start the transportation of wheat to Afghanistan.

The statement of the foreign office spokesperson suggested that the delay was on part of India.

To a question on the demilitarization of Siachen, the spokesperson said Pakistan had a policy, which was derived from the principle of a friendly neighbourhood. “We want peace and friendship in our neighbourhood - good relations with all including India,” he remarked while responding to the Indian Army Chief statement on Siachen.

Also read: Pakistan, India at odds over wheat transit modalities

But the spokesperson said the developments of the past two years, particularly the “hostile India attitude”, had further deteriorated the situation making it difficult to move forward.

“We are committed to improving relations with India and have a dialogue that is meaningful, constructive, result-oriented and sustained. But India has vitiated the environment - the conditions are not there. We have repeatedly said that the onus lies on India to take necessary steps for an environment conducive for dialogue.”

CPEC

Ahead of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to China, the foreign office shared details about the progress on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.

“Starting from the first visit of the Prime Minister to China in November 2018, CPEC has focused increasingly on socio-economic development projects geared towards directly improving the well-being of our people,” the spokesperson said.

He added 27 projects had been conceived and were under various stages of implementation and preparation. “We have also expanded CPEC's ambit by including agriculture, science and technology and IT cooperation.”

He further said the work on major infrastructure projects had continued apace and a number of new mega projects had been endorsed by the JCC of CPEC. “These include the Azad Pattan and Kohala hydropower projects, which will help address Pakistan's food security while also ensuring access to green and cost-competitive energy for our industrial growth.”

The details of CPEC projects were shared by the foreign office against the backdrop of reports that the work on the multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative might have been slowed down since the PTI government took charge in August 2018.

But the spokesperson dismissed such reports as part of “misguided” efforts to deliberately spread disinformation about this signature achievement of Pakistan and China.