Did India refuse to grant airspace to Pakistan for humanitarian aid flights to Sri Lanka for flood relief? Fact Check

Shelton RozarioDecember 8, 2025

3 minutes read

Claim : India has refused to grant airspace to Pakistan for humanitarian aid flights headed to Sri Lanka for flood relief.

Conclusion : The claim is false. Official sources from the India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reveals that no refusal was made. Moreover, the Sri Lankan media affirms that India allowed Pakistan to use their airspace for aid.

Rating : Totally False —

Several social media users have claimed that India had refused to grant its airspace to Pakistan to provide relief in Sri Lanka. Verified X user ‘ij422’ posted such a claim with the caption : “INDIA’S FACE EXPOSED AGAIN!!India has refused to grant airspace to Pakistan for humanitarian aid flights headed to Sri Lanka to help people affected by the ongoing flood disaster. Pakistan will now send the aid by ship.” The post that was uploaded on December 1, 2025 can be seen below –

🚨🇮🇳 INDIA’S FACE EXPOSED AGAIN!!

India has refused to grant airspace to Pakistan for humanitarian aid flights headed to Sri Lanka to help people affected by the ongoing flood disaster. Pakistan will now send the aid by ship. pic.twitter.com/GdHbuCsYTy

— Ch Mudasir 🇵🇰 (@ij422) December 1, 2025

Furthermore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan also took to X on December 2, 2025 and accused India of blocking “humanitarian assistance from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. The special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka continues to face delay for over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India.” This post can be seen here.

India continues to block humanitarian assistance from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. The special aircraft carrying Pakistan’s humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka continues to face delay for over 60 hours now awaiting flight clearance from India.

The partial flight clearance issued by…

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) December 2, 2025

FACT CHECK

DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is false. India granted overflight permission within four hours of Pakistan’s request on December 1, 2025, in line with humanitarian norms despite Pakistan’s ongoing ban on Indian flights. This has been confirmed by Indian government sources and various media outlets.

Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst flooding in two decades after Cyclone Ditwah brought severe rains and landslides across all 25 districts, affecting nearly one million people and leaving more than 400 dead or missing. According to a report by the United Nations posted on November 30, 2025, “More than 180,000 people from over 51,000 families are sheltering in 1,094 government-run safety centres as search and rescue efforts continue.” View a section of the report below –

Following this, we conducted a keyword search with the phrase “India approval of Pakistan humanitarian aid” to learn more about the approval. Multiple reports including an official statement released by India’s Ministry of Foreign affairs have countered Pakistan’s fake claim. View the screenshot below –

According to the above press release, Pakistan submitted the overflight request at 1300 hrs on December 1 via the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. India processed and approved it by 1730 hrs the same day, adhering to the proposed itinerary for a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight carrying relief supplies. India called Pakistan’s delay claims as “ridiculous” and “anti-India misinformation”.

Next when we checked for media reports, several media outlets including Sri Lankan media ‘The Island’ has confirmed this. The report mentions that “New Delhi has granted rapid clearance for Pakistan’s aid flight carrying relief material to cyclone-hit Sri Lanka.” View the report here.

(Courtesy:‘The Island’)

On December 1, 2025, India undertook Operation Sagar Bandhu for emergency aid and assistance to Sri Lanka. According to an official press release by MEA India, this mission was launched on “28 November 2025 to provide ‘urgent Search & Rescue’ and ‘Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief (HADR)’ support to our closest maritime neighbour.” View a section of this below –