Committed to supply humanitarian assist to Afghanistan, says India at UN

India stated on Monday that it’ll proceed to coordinate with “stakeholders” in the direction of enabling expeditious provision of a lot wanted humanitarian help to the Afghan folks, days after New Delhi despatched shipments of wheat to Afghanistan.

“India’s approach to Afghanistan has always been guided by its historical friendship with its peopleWe remain steadfast in our commitment to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Geneva Ambassador Indramani Pandey stated.

Pandey was talking on the interactive dialogue with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on her report on strengthening promotion and safety of human rights in Afghanistan in the course of the forty ninth Session of the Human Rights Council.

He stated that on this endeavour, India has already provided 4000MT of wheat, half one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, 13 tonnes of important lifesaving medicines and winter clothes for the Afghan folks. These consignments have been handed over to the UN specialised businesses the World Health Organisation and the World Food Programme.

“As Afghanistan’s largest regional development partner, India would continue to coordinate with other stakeholders to work towards enabling expeditious provision of much needed humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people,” he said.

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Last week, India had sent the second shipment of 2,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan via Pakistani land route as part of its humanitarian aid to Afghan people who have been reeling under food shortage.

India despatched the first consignment of 2,500 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan through the Pakistani land route on February 22 and it reached the Afghan city of Jalalabad on February 26. Fifty trucks carried the consignment.

India had sent a proposal to Pakistan on October 7 seeking the transit facility to send 50,000 tonnes of wheat to the people of Afghanistan via Pakistan and it received a positive response from Islamabad on November 24. Following the Pakistani response, both sides were in touch to finalise the modalities for the transportation of the shipments.

Pandey said that as a contiguous neighbour and a long-standing partner of Afghanistan, recent developments in the war-torn country, particularly the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation continues to be a matter of concern.

“India additionally shares issues of the worldwide neighborhood on points associated to offering fast humanitarian help; guaranteeing formation of a very inclusive and consultant authorities; combating terrorism and drug trafficking and preserving the rights of ladies, kids and minorities,” Pandey said.

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Bachelet said that the Afghan people face a “devastating humanitarian and economic crisis” that severely impacts their enjoyment of the full range of economic, social and cultural rights. More than half the population now suffer extreme levels of hunger. An increase in child labour, child marriage and the sale of children has been observed.

“Following the Taliban’s takeover, worldwide sanctions that beforehand utilized to the Taliban successfully grew to become sanctions on the nation’s de facto governing authorities. The ensuing liquidity disaster contributed to a full-scale financial crash.

“In addition, non-humanitarian aid to the country on which almost every essential state function had been dependent prior to the Taliban take-over was suspended. The Security Council’s adoption in December of Resolution 2615, to exempt humanitarian transactions is a welcome first step to enable work that could save millions of lives,” she said.

She also noted that while the decline in hostilities has seen a sharp decrease in civilian casualties, the human rights situation for many Afghans is of profound concern. From August 15, 2021 to February 15, 2022, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and her office documented at least 1,153 civilian casualties, including 397 deaths.

Several suicide and non-suicide attacks were perpetrated by Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP) against Shia Muslims, mostly from the Hazara ethnic group.

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“I additionally word a transparent sample of greater than 50 extra-judicial killings of people suspected to be linked to the ISKP extremist group, together with circumstances of beheadings in Nangarhar province with our bodies left in public locations,” she stated.

She stated she shall be urging the de facto authorities to recognise and respect Afghanistan’s State obligations to guard human rights as they implement their very own approaches to measures of governance within the nation.

“This shall be elementary for long run assist from the worldwide neighborhood. In specific, the total participation, schooling and empowerment of ladies and women is prime to Afghanistan’s future peace and growth.”