India is helping every country with COVID-19 vaccine: Farooq Abdullah

With Pakistan set to receive free doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, being manufactured in India, through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi), former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said that India is helping every country with the vaccine.

The National Conference leader also said that the two countries are getting closer and the feeling of tension is gradually easing.

"India is helping every country with the vaccine. It's a humtarian thing, and everybody should welcome wherever they send it. Both nations are getting closer and the feeling of tension is gradually dying. Both nations have realised that if we live in friendship, we'll both progress, and that is what every Indian or Pakistan also wants," Abdullah told .

Asked about terrorism in Kashmir, Abdullah said "a disease starts if there is a small nidus".

"There is a tragedy that we face in Kashmir that's is why we face terrorism. If we want to save this world, we have to get together. There is no time for war now. It is time for mutual understanding."

He also recited a Mir Taqi Mir's couplet. "Ibtida-e-ishq hai rota hai kya aage-aage dekhie hota hai kya."(Do not cry for love is just beginning, wait and see what happens next).

Pakistan would get a total of 16 million free doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine, being manufactured in India, through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) for inoculating 45 million people, officials told Pakistan's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), according to The Express Tribune.

The PAC was informed on Thursday (local time) that the country was relying mostly on free doses being provided by the Gavi to inoculate the citizens against the coronavirus as the Chinese-made vaccine CanSino would cost USD 13 or around Pakist Rs 2,000 per person.

According to the officials, Pakistan would receive the first batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute of India by mid-March and the rest of it is expected to arrive by June.

( With inputs from ANI )