“Pakistan’s expired humanitarianism: How a performative nation keeps exposing itself, one rotten relief package at a time”, Opindia, December 03, 2025
“There is a peculiar pattern in Pakistan’s behaviour whenever tragedy strikes a neighbouring nation. Natural disaster, humanitarian crisis, civilian distress, Islamabad treats it less like an urgent call for help and more like an opportunity for a self-congratulatory publicity stunt. It has become a professional habit: do the bare minimum, loudly market the gesture, and expect the world to applaud. Except, every time, the truth leaks out like the smell of expired lentils Pakistan keeps dumping as “aid”.
The most recent embarrassment unfolded in Sri Lanka. The island nation, already suffering from the wounds of devastating floods and a deadly cyclone, found itself at the receiving end of Pakistan’s “help”. Islamabad’s High Commission in Colombo proudly posted photos online, flaunting relief supplies supposedly sent to bring solace to disaster-affected Sri Lankans. They probably expected hashtags, praise, and diplomatic brownie points.
What they received instead was humiliation.
Printed clearly on those shiny “aid” packages, in letters no amount of PR filters could hide, was the date: EXP: 10/2024. The relief material had expired more than a year ago. Humanitarian aid is meant to uplift people in crisis, but what Pakistan sent to Sri Lanka was effectively garbage dressed up as compassion. Items that should have been discarded were being offered to disaster survivors who had already lost enough. There is incompetence, and then there is whatever this is…….”
Read full article at opindia.com
