Four-and-a-half months after India proposed to Pakistan that it wants to send wheat for the people of Afghanistan, the first consignment of about 2,000 metric tonnes of the grain, laden in about 50 trucks, will roll out on Tuesday. They will be taken to Afghanistan overland through Pakistan in Afghan trucks, which will pick up the consignments at Attari in Punjab.
This is a significant diplomatic development where India and Pakistan are coming together to help the people of Afghanistan. India doesn’t recognise the Taliban regime in Kabul.
The flag-off is expected to take place on Tuesday afternoon, sources said Monday. This is the first tranche of 50,000 tonnes of wheat India has committed to send to Afghanistan since the Taliban took over the country in mid-August. This follows a pact between India and the World Food Programme, signed earlier this month to supply foodgrain to Afghanistan as a humanitarian gesture.
India had sent a proposal to Pakistan on October 7 last year seeking the transit facility to send 50,000 tonnes of wheat and life-saving medicines to Afghanistan via Pakistani soil, and received a response from Islamabad on November 24, 2021.
