The Pakistan Red Crescent began to operate independently of the government as the result of a dispute that arose after the Red Crescent took possession of 20 rafts donated by the British Red Cross. A pesticide company had to wait two days before it received permission for two of its crop dusters, which were already in the country, to carry out supply drops in the affected regions. The Pakistani government only deployed a single helicopter to relief operations, with Yahya Khan later stating that there was no point deploying any helicopters from West Pakistan as they were unable to carry supplies.