Thu, Oct 20, 2005
Earthquake-Battered Nation Accepts Offer From India... Sort
Of
While there's no
(immediate) threat of a nuclear exchange in this case, Pakistan and
arch-rival India are at odds once again. This time, the issue is
the help Pakistan desperately needs in the aftermath of an
earthquake that killed as many as 80,000 people -- and how India
can help.
As Aero-News reported last week, military and
relief agencies from all over the world, including the US, are
helping with the massive relief undertaking. India, too, has
offered to help -- an offer that could lead to better diplomatic
relations between the cold warriors at some point down the
road.
Above all, Pakistan says it needs helicopters. India said it's
willing to send fully crewed helos. Ahh, herein lies the rub.
Pakistan told India, in essence, thanks for the offer. Please
send helicopters only.
Pakistan's foreign secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan called his
Indian counterpart Shyam Saran "to convey that Pakistan would be
willing to receive helicopters from India for relief work but
without Indian pilots and crews", said an Indian foreign ministry
statement quoted by the French news agency AFP.
India's response was polite, but firm. "Saran conveyed to his
Pakistani counterpart that it would not be possible for India to
provide helicopters, which are in service with its armed forces
without pilots and crews," the statement said.
The problem is made only tougher by the fact that the quake
devastated Kashmir Province -- the very region the two countries
have battled over for decades. Saran reportedly told Khan his
country remains willing "to undertake relief work in
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK)' that lie close to the Line of
Control (LoC)."
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