Islamabad, Nov 18 (PTI) Pakistan will soon communicate its decision to India on allowing a humanitarian shipment of wheat to pass through its territory to neighbouring Afghanistan as concerned authorities finalise modalities, according to a media report on Thursday.

"The decision will be announced soon," a senior government official was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune newspaper.

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The official also dismissed the perception that Pakistan might not allow the transportation of wheat to Afghanistan via Wagah border crossing.

Last month, India announced 50,000 metric tons of wheat for Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance and requested Pakistan to ship the food grain via the Wagah border.

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Currently, Pakistan only allows Afghanistan to export goods to India but doesn't allow any other two-way trade through the border crossing.

Prime Minister Imran Khan told Afghan Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi last week that his government would “favorably consider” the request by Afghan brothers for transportation of wheat offered by India through Pakistan for humanitarian purposes after working out its modalities.

The Afghan foreign minister had requested Prime Minister Khan to allow India to transport wheat via Pakistan, suggesting that the Taliban government was willing to accept the humanitarian assistance from India.

"We have almost finalised the modalities and soon India would be communicated about our decision,” the official said.

The Taliban government has said it wanted to maintain good ties with all countries including India.

Earlier, it was reported that Indian officials during a meeting with US special representative for Afghanistan Thomas West sought “unhindered access” to Afghanistan for the shipment of 50,000 tons of wheat being sent as humanitarian assistance.

Official sources here said the access would be unhindered once the modalities were worked out.

A source said that when the Prime Minister publicly stated that Pakistan would “favorably consider” the request that meant in principle the government had already decided to allow India to transport wheat via Pakistan.

If both sides eventually agree on the modalities and India does transport the wheat via Pakistan, this would be seen as a significant development given the current state of relationship between the two countries and how both differ on Afghanistan, according to the paper.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)