India to send Pak flood relief aid via UN: govt

The Government of India has decided to route its aid of $5 million for Pakistan flood victims through the United Nations.

“India would be in touch with the concerned UN agencies to work out the modalities,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman, Vishnu Prakash on Monday.

“India has no problem in routing the relief material through the UN, as desired by Islamabad,” the spokesman further added.

New Delhi has been maintaining that it was a humanitarian crisis being faced by Pakistan and it has offered the aid as a goodwill gesture.

On August 19, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh called his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani and offered more assistance in handling the devastation caused by the floods even though that country was yet to respond to India''s last week''s aid offer of five million dollars.

While expressing his sense of sorrow and condoling the deaths resulting from the huge floods that devastated parts of Pakistan, Dr. Singh had stated in such times of natural disasters, all of South Asia should rise to the occasion and extend every possible help to the people of Pakistan affected by the tragedy.

On August 13, India had made the offer of aid when External Affairs Minister S M Krishna called up his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

The floods have killed over 1,700 people and affected 20 million in Pakistan. Around 1.2 million homes have been destroyed.