India offers Pak $5 million flood aid; but may be rebuffed

India finally stepped up to the table to offer Pakistan aid for those hit by the unprecedented floods which have reportedly affected 14 million people and left over 1,600 people dead in that country.

Foreign minister S M Krishna called up his counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday to offer aid of $5 million for the flood-hit in Pakistan. He also conveyed India's concern at the loss of lives caused.

Krishna described the offer as a ''gesture of solidarity with the people of Pakistan in their hour of need'', a statement issued by the Indian high commission in Islamabad said on Friday.

India's offer of aid has taken its time, and comes after UN secretary general Ban-ki Moon put out a global appeal for over $450 million in flood relief for Pakistan.

Considering India is invariably one of the first to rush emergency aid to countries in the neighbourhood, its hesitation in announcing relief in this instance seems a reflection of the tensions between the two countries.

The ministry of external affairs, normally quite good with rolling out aid diplomacy, was unusually backward. The rest of the world, apart from the US, has not been overly generous either.