India Sends Medical Aid To Afghanistan, Condemns Pak Air Strikes

NEW DELHI- India on March 20 delivered a 2.5-tonne consignment of emergency medicines, medical disposables, kits and equipment to Afghanistan to support the treatment of those injured in Pakistan’s recent attack on a hospital in Kabul.

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that India will continue to provide humanitarian support to Afghanistan in this difficult time.

India delivered assistance to Afghanistan after a Pakistani strike on March 16 night targeted the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul’s Pul-e-Charkhi area, killing over 400 people and injuring more than 250 others.

India condemned the Pakistani airstrikes on a hospital and rehabilitation center in Kabul and said that Islamabad is “now trying to dress up a massacre as a military operation”.

India said that the “heinous act of aggression” by Pakistan is also a “blatant assault” on Afghanistan’s sovereignty and poses a direct threat to regional peace and stability.

“It reflects Pakistan’s persistent pattern of reckless behavior and its repeated attempts to externalize internal failures through increasingly desperate acts of violence beyond its borders,” the MEA said.

The ministry highlighted that what makes the strike “more reprehensible” is that Islamabad attacked Afghanistan during Ramadan — a holy month for Muslims around the world and “a time of peace, reflection, and mercy”.

“There is no faith, no law, and no morality that can justify the deliberate targeting of a hospital and its patients,” it said.

India also called on the international community to hold the perpetrators of the “criminal act” accountable and ensure that the “wanton targeting” of Afghan civilians ceases without delay. (IANS)