“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,” FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at the weekly media briefing.
She was responding to a question regarding India’s lack of reciprocation to Pakistan’s overtures for restoring trade relations.
Pakistan had suspended trade with India after it revoked the special status of the Occupied Jammu and Kashmir region in August 2019 in a controversial move.
Leaders of PML-N government have on multiple occasions since coming to office earlier this year expressed Shehbaz Sharif administration’s willingness to reevaluate trade relations with India, with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar emphasising the Pakistani business community’s eagerness to revive trade ties during a London press conference on March 23.
Rooted in a semi-urban and industrialist coalition led by Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N has historically championed the economic benefits of normalised trade with India. But a potential resumption of trade, despite the 2019 controversial move, could indicate a strategic shift in Pakistan’s approach towards the dispute while prioritising economic interests.
Referring to a recent incident of killing of four Kashmiri youths by Indian forces in the Doda district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the spokesperson said it showed the unlawful and repressive tactics employed by the Indian authorities against the Kashmiris.
“We urge the international community to take immediate and decisive action to hold India accountable for its egregious human rights violations in IIOJK and to take steps to protect the rights and freedoms of the Kashmiri people,” she said.
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.
In March 2021, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) had announced it would allow the private sector to import 0.5 million tonnes of white sugar from India and cotton via the Wagah border. However, the decision was reversed within days following severe criticism from the opposition.
In December, ex-premier and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had stressed the need to improve relationships with Pakistan’s neighbours, stating: “We have to fix our affairs with India and Afghanistan as well, [and] strengthen them further with Iran and China.”
Addressing a press conference in London on Saturday, Dar, who has previously served as the finance minister, termed the August 2019 move by India as an “extreme step” and “very painful”. He noted that there were United Nations Security Council resolutions present on the “ongoing dispute”.
However, the foreign minister highlighted that the business community often made appeals and demands with regards to the trade situation with India.
Recalling a meeting with the business community before presenting last year’s budget, he said, “Everyone’s appeal was the same — that our imports, which are still ongoing, arrive via Dubai or Singapore, [resulting in] extra freight, extra transhipment, transportation costs, etc.
“So we will seriously examine this. All of us stakeholders will sit together and see whether we can […] at least to the extent of economic activities and trade,” he said.
“We will see what can be done about it,” the ex-finance minister said, stressing: “ But I cannot give you a ‘yes or no’ answer because it requires consultation.“
PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif on Saturday stressed the need to improve relationships with Pakistan’s neighbours, wondering how the country could achieve a global status while there were disagreements with bordering nations.
Addressing the party’s parliamentary board meeting in Lahore, he said: “How can you achieve a global status when your neighbours are upset with you, or you are with them?
“We have to fix our affairs with India and Afghanistan as well, [and] strengthen them further with Iran and China,” he asserted.
His statement comes amid Pakistan’s frigid ties with India — seen in sports as well as verbal exchanges between leaders — and with Afghanistan due to terrorism concerns and the ongoing deportation drive.
Today, Nawaz emphasised that a government should not only focus on the economic and financial performance but “show its performance in every sector”.
He recalled that during his party’s tenures, two Indian premiers — Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 and Narendra Modi in 2015 — visited Pakistan. “Did anyone come before them?” he asked.
The ex-PM then criticised the PTI government for “trying to sabotage” the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. He further said that there was “only talk but no work” about making use of the country’s coal resources.
