India Monday anounced that the first consignment of 25 tonnes of emergency relief supplies for quake-hit areas of Pakistan will be airlifted Tuesday and offered to help in badly-affected places along the Line of Control on the Pakistani side, which are easier to access from the Indian end.
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran had a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Aziz Ahmad Khan who later met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and apprised him of the devastation caused by the killer tremblor.
Describing it as a "great humanitarian crisis", the prime minister said, "Our hearts go out to the people of entire villages and communities which have been devastated by this natural disaster."
Dr Singh directed that a consignment of relief supplies including tents, plastic sheets, blankets, mattresses, food items and a variety of medicines and medical supplies be put together on an urgent basis and delivered to Pakistan at the earliest, Saran said at a press briefing in New Delhi.
"The concerned agencies are already at work in organising an airlift of these items by Tuesday evening subject to clearances being obtained," he said.
Asked whether India has offered its assistance in areas along the LOC on the Pakistani side which have been completely cut off from the Pakistani end, but can be reached from the Indian side, he replied in the affirmative.
"If they can tell us locations of these areas where they would like us to provide relief supplies across the LOC and even send across medical personnel, we would be very happy to organise that," he said.
