The Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday that India was preventing humanitarian assistance from being sent to Sri Lanka, which has reported severe flooding and landslides triggered by Cyclone Ditwah.

In a post on X, the FO said: “India continues to block humanitarian assistance from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. The special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka continues to face delay for over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India.

“The partial flight clearance issued by India last night, after 48 hours, was operationally impractical: time-bound for just a few hours and without validity for the return flight, severely hindering this urgent relief mission for the brotherly people of Sri Lanka,” it said.

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