ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has offered to send essential medical supplies to India that’s in the grip of a devastating coronavirus surge that has depleted oxygen stocks and other hospital needs.
In a statement issued late on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said that as a gesture of solidarity with the people of India, Pakistan has offered to provide relief support including ventilators, oxygen supply kits, digital X-ray machines, personal protective equipment (PPEs), and related gear.
The statement further said authorities of both countries can work out modalities for quick delivery of the items and can also explore possible ways of further cooperation to mitigate the challenges posed by the pandemic.
The offer came a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan in a tweet prayed for the “speedy recovery of the Indian people affected by the virus.”
“Our prayers for a speedy recovery go to all those suffering from the pandemic in our neighbourhood & the world,” Imran said. “We must fight this global challenge confronting humanity together.”
I want to express our solidarity with the people of India as they battle a dangerous wave of COVID-19. Our prayers for a speedy recovery go to all those suffering from the pandemic in our neighbourhood & the world. We must fight this global challenge confronting humanity together
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 24, 2021
India has been registering a record number of coronavirus cases and deaths. It registered on Sunday a record daily rise of 349,691 new cases, taking its overall tally to 16.96 million infections.
A total of 2,767 people were reported dead on Sunday, according to health ministry data, taking total coronavirus fatalities to 192,311.
The country is hitting a rate of one Covid-19 death in just under every four minutes in New Delhi as the capital’s underfunded and fragile health system buckles.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Pakistan, believing in a policy of humanity first, made the offer to India and is awaiting a response.
As a gesture of solidarity with the people of India in the wake of the current wave of #COVID19, Pakistan has officially offered relief & support to #India, including ventilators, Bi PAP, digital X ray machines, PPEs & other related items. We believe in a policy of #HumanityFirst
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) April 24, 2021
However, there was no immediate response from the Indian government that may be reluctant to receive help from Islamabad under pressure from its hardline, anti-Pakistan political base.
Earlier on Friday, Edhi Foundation — in a letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi — had also offered to send ambulances and medical staff to help New Delhi.
“We sympathise with you greatly and during this strenuous time, we would like to extend our help in the form of a fleet of 50 ambulances along with our services to assist you in addressing, and further circumventing, the current health conditions,” the letter — written by Faisal Edhi, the managing trustee of the charity — read.
India has requested various countries — including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, and Saudi Arabia — to procure containers and oxygen cylinders to meet the growing domestic demand, India Today reported, quoting sources.
Despite strained relations between the two arch-rival neighbours, netizens across the country expressed support and offered prayers for India with #PakistanstandswithIndia and #Indianeedoxygen remained the top trends on Twitter for a third day Saturday.
INDIA ASKS TWITTER TO REMOVE POSTS CRITICAL OF ITS COVID HANDLING:
New Delhi has asked Twitter to take down dozens of tweets, including some by local lawmakers, that were critical of India’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Twitter has withheld some of the tweets after the legal request by the Indian government, a company spokeswoman told Reuters.
The government made an emergency order to censor the tweets, Twitter disclosed on Lumen database, a Harvard University project.
In the government’s legal request, dated April 23 and disclosed on Lumen, 21 tweets were mentioned. Among them were tweets from a lawmaker named Revnath Reddy, a minister in the state of West Bengal named Moloy Ghatak and a filmmaker named Avinash Das.
The law cited in the government’s request was the Information Technology Act, 2000.
“When we receive a valid legal request, we review it under both the Twitter Rules and local law,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
“If the content violates Twitter’s rules, the content will be removed from the service. If it is determined to be illegal in a particular jurisdiction, but not in violation of the Twitter Rules, we may withhold access to the content in India only,” she said.
The spokeswoman confirmed that Twitter had notified account holders directly about withholding their content and let them know that it received a legal order pertaining to their tweets.
