LONDON
\nForeign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the relevant stakeholders would \u201cseriously examine\u201d the trade situation with India as he highlighted the concerns of the business community.
\nPakistan, 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\u2019s special status by repealing Article 370 of its constitution.
\nIn 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.
\nIn December, ex-premier and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had stressed the need to improve relationships with Pakistan\u2019s neighbours, stating: \u201cWe have to fix our affairs with India and Afghanistan as well, [and] strengthen them further with Iran and China.\u201d
\nAddressing 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 \u201cextreme step\u201d and \u201cvery painful\u201d. He noted that there were United Nations Security Council resolutions present on the \u201congoing dispute\u201d.
\nHowever, the foreign minister highlighted that the business community often made appeals and demands with regards to the trade situation with India.
\nRecalling a meeting with the business community before presenting last year\u2019s budget, he said, \u201cEveryone\u2019s appeal was the same \u2014 that our imports, which are still ongoing, arrive via Dubai or Singapore, [resulting in] extra freight, extra transhipment, transportation costs, etc.
\n\u201cSo we will seriously examine this. All of us stakeholders will sit together and see whether we can [\u2026] at least to the extent of economic activities and trade,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe will see what can be done about it,\u201d the ex-finance minister said, stressing: \u201c But I cannot give you a \u2018yes or no\u2019 answer because it requires consultation.\u201c
\n\u2018Pakistan shouldn\u2019t be misunderstood\u2019
\nCommenting on the recent tensions between Islamabad and Kabul following a strike on militant bases in Afghanistan, Dar said that Pakistan \u201cshould not be misunderstood\u201d.
\n\u201cFirstly, they (Afghanistan) are our neighbours. Secondly, they are our brothers and thirdly, we have a common culture. I am upset that despite the new [Afghan] regime \u2026 such [terror] acts should stop now,\u201d the finance minister said.
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t change your neighbours. We must keep that in mind. Our neighbours are permanent. India is also our neighbour, as well as Afghanistan, Iran and China. We have to co-exist with them,\u201d Dar emphasised.
\nReferring to the National Action Plan made following the 2014 Army Public School attack, he said the core message of it was that \u201cwe will not allow our territory, our soil to be used for any terrorist activities against any other country\u201d.
\n\u201cWe stand by that resolve and commitment, and even today, try our best to implement it,\u201d he asserted, noting that Pakistan\u2019s policy was to \u201calways be very transparent\u201d.
\nRecalling his positive communication with Afghanistan\u2019s Interim Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on March 16, Dar said he received the news of the North Waziristan terror attack while on call with his Afghan counterpart.
\nHe said Muttaqi condemned the attack, following which he suggested to the Afghan official that \u201cit would be better to issue a public statement\u201d.
\n\u201cPakistan then decided to have a kinetic counter-response,\u201d Dar said, adding that he told Muttaqi: \u201cAccording to what is reported to me, the Gul Bahadur Group is responsible for this \u2014 the TTP is being used \u2014 and its leadership is in your country. Please take action on this and hand them over to us.\u201d
\nHowever, the foreign minister lamented that \u201cno meaningful action\u201d was taken. He asserted that the strike conducted by Pakistan was not against the people, government or military of Afghanistan but was an intelligence-based operation targeted at terrorist hideouts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that the relevant stakeholders would \u201cseriously examine\u201d the trade situation with India as he highlighted the concerns of the business community. 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n