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January 24, 2025

 

Indian FM Jaishankar Says ‘No Talks’ on Trade Were Held with Pakistan

Washington, DC: Indian Foreign Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Wednesday said that there had been no talks on trade between his country and Pakistan, nor had there been any proposals to resume the flow of commerce.

Delhi’s top diplomat made the remarks while fielding questions from reporters at the Indian embassy in Washington, where he had gone to attend the inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Monday.

In response to a question about trade with Pakistan, Jaishankar said: “After last year, there have been no talks with Pakistan about trade, nor has any initiative come forward from their side.”

He further said about the situation between the neighbors: “We never stopped trade. Any steps taken to stop trade with India were taken from their side in  2019 . Our concern from the beginning was that they never granted us MFN (Most Favored Nation) status, even though we granted it to them.”

Pakistan, under the government of then-prime minister Imran Khan, had downgraded diplomatic relations with New Delhi and suspended all bilateral trade in August 2019, when India  revoked  occupied Kashmir’s special status by repealing Article 370 of its constitution.

Last August, the Foreign Office (FO) had said trade with India was  not on the cards , citing the unchanged situation in Indian-held Kashmir since the  2019 events  that led to the initial suspension.

“The situation remains intact, and at this point, there are no bilateral talks between the two countries with respect to bilateral trade between Pakistan and India,” then-FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch had said while responding to a question regarding India’s lack of reciprocation to Pakistan’s overtures for restoring trade relations.

In March 2024, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had said that relevant stakeholders would “ seriously examine ” the trade situation with India as he aired the concerns of the business community.

Leaders of the PML-N government have on multiple occasions, since coming to office last year, expressed the administration’s willingness to reevaluate trade relations with India

In March 2021, the Economic Coordination Committee had announced it would allow the private sector to import 0.5 million tons of white sugar from India and cotton via the Wagah border. However, the decision was reversed within days following severe criticism from the opposition. – Dawn

Courtesy Dawn

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