'Ridiculous statement': India rejects Pakistan's claims of blocking humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka amid Cyclone Ditwah

On Tuesday (Dec 2), Pakistan alleged that India is blocking its humanitarian aid consignment to Sri Lanka as Cyclone Ditwah strikes the island nation, claiming over 400 lives. And in response, India rejected “ridiculous statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan.” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We reject the ridiculous statement made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan which is yet another attempt of spreading anti-India misinformation.”

“The request for overflight clearance for Pakistani aircraft carrying humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka was received by the High Commission of India in Islamabad at around 1300 hrs on December 01, 2025. Given the urgency of humanitarian assistance, the Government of India processed the request expeditiously, the same day and granted the overflight permission as per the itinerary proposed at 1730 hrs on December 01, 2025," the statement added.

India also assured that it stays committed to assisting people of the island nation in these trying times.

Pakistan's claims:

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.

Pakistan packs expired products to Sri Lanka:

And as Sri Lanka grapples with Cyclone Ditwah, Pakistan, in a friendly humanitarian gesture, sent aid to the island nation. After the consignment arrived, the Pakistani embassy in Colombo posted a picture of the goods transported with the caption: “Relief packages from Pakistan have been successfully delivered to assist our brothers and sisters affected by the recent floods in Sri Lanka, which signifies our unwavering solidarity.” It looks like the act garnered a lot of attention, but for the fact that the products delivered as aid had expired. Either it's a massive oversight by Islamabad, or they assumed this would not get highlighted.

Pakistan cannot even call it propaganda or negative publicity, as the date is clearly visible in the photo that the embassy posted itself. “Pakistan stands with Sri Lanka today and always,” the post added. But this time, Islamabad stood with Colombo with expired products. The latter is busy handling the situation, and no official statement has been released yet.

And now, the Pakistan High Commission in Sri Lanka has deleted the post with pictures of expired products.