India Rebuts Pakistan’s “Baseless” Claim on Sri Lanka Relief Flight Airspace
New Delhi clears aid flight instantly despite Islamabad’s own ban.
India on Monday issued a sharp and detailed rebuttal to Pakistani media outlets that falsely claimed New Delhi had blocked airspace for a humanitarian relief flight bound for cyclone-devastated Sri Lanka, branding the reports as “completely baseless, misleading, and deliberately timed to create confusion during an ongoing natural calamity.”
The Pakistani request for overflight clearance was formally received at 1300 hours IST on Monday. Given the urgent humanitarian nature of the mission—delivering critical supplies to flood-ravaged regions of Sri Lanka—Indian authorities bypassed routine protocols and granted permission in a record four hours, with official communication dispatched to Islamabad at exactly 1730 hours IST the same day.
Senior officials emphasised that India’s extraordinarily swift response was extended purely as a goodwill gesture toward the people of Sri Lanka, despite Pakistan maintaining a blanket ban on all Indian civilian and military aircraft transiting its airspace since February 2019—a restriction India has never reciprocated even during past humanitarian crises.
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The episode highlights a stark contrast in approach: while Pakistan reportedly delayed submitting its request until the last possible moment and then allowed unsubstantiated media claims of Indian obstruction to spread unchecked, New Delhi prioritised rapid processing and transparency, releasing precise timelines to refute the narrative of deliberate hindrance.
As the diplomatic exchange unfolded, India has already delivered 53 tonnes of emergency assistance to Sri Lanka under Operation Sagar Bandhu, including naval shipments, multiple Air Force airlifts carrying tents, medicines, ready-to-eat meals, portable hospital units, and specialist National Disaster Response Force teams—cementing its position as the region’s most responsive neighbour amid a disaster that has claimed at least 334 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands.
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