New Delhi, July 28: Even as New Delhi and Islamabad find ways and means to restore bilateral train and air links after the resumption of the Delhi-Lahore bus service, Pakistan refuses to allow Indian humanitarian assistance destined for Afghanistan to transit through its border. Except for some vehicles, Pakistan has not permitted Indian goods to be transported through its border to the war-ravaged country, where people have still not recovered from the trauma of prolonged conflicts, official sources said.

''Indian humanitarian assistance continues to be sent through other commercially available channels and routes to Afghanistan,'' the sources said. New Delhi would continue to send assistance through available channels and routes, including Bandar Abbas, though it normally took four to six weeks for the consignments to reach Afghanistan, they added. India has provided extensive humanitarian, project and financial assistance to Afghanistan. Soon after the fall of the Taliban regime in the country, India had announced a financial commitment of 100 million us dollars for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

Out of this grant, a sum of ten million dollars was transferred into the account of the afghan government as budget subsidy in July 2002.

Some of the major areas of Indian project assistance to Afghanistan include education, health, civil aviation, public transport, culture and media, institution building, information technology, security and rule of law, judiciary, banking, urban development and agriculture. India has already gifted three aircraft to Afghanistan and 274 transport buses. It has also trained nearly 500 afghan officials at Indian institutions. Bureau Report