Pakistan has accepted India's offer of five million USD in aid for flood relief in the country and appreciated its very positive gesture. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is in New York to attend a special meeting of the United Nations on flood situation in his country, stated this a day after the US said politics should have no role in disaster response and expected Islamabad to accept the Indian aid offer. While pushing for more international aid for relief and rehabilitation efforts, Pakistan has been dilly-dallying on accepting the aid offered by India last Friday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had spoken to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani yesterday and offered more assistance in handling flood relief. Qureshi said in New York that the Government of Pakistan has agreed to accept the Indian offer of 5 million USD aid. Speaking to a private channel, Qureshi said, they are not playing politics and acknowledged the fact that the Minister for External Affairs, Mr (S M) Krishna, called him in Islamabad and expressed sympathy and condolences on the loss of life, and offered assistance to Pakistan. Qureshi thanked Krishna, Indian Government and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, for the very positive gesture. The Pakistan Foreign Minister said, the initiative by India is a very welcome initiative and he looks forward to further engagements with his counterpart to improve the environment, to build confidence and to bridge the trust deficit between the two countries. Three weeks of unusually heavy monsoon rains triggered flash floods in Khyber-Paktunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan had affected an estimated 20 million people. Over 1,700 people have died and the UN says more than 650,000 people are without basic shelter while six million desperately need emergency aid.