While both Pakistan and India were trying to portray the escalation at the LOC as normal cross-border firing and surgical strikes respectively, there were certain casualties far away from the disputed border that have gone unnoticed. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in Karachi and India\u2019s broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) were two of these casualties as stocks of both markets nosedived following the news of the escalation at the border.
\nWhile India\u2019s NSE went down by 1.8 percent, Pakistan\u2019s PSX benchmark 100-share index closed at a relatively lower loss of 0.15 percent. The index had spiralled down by 0.52pc as individual investors ran to book profit following the news of a flare-up in hostilities. The losses at the PSX had been mitigated due to a massive rally earlier in the day that had pushed the stock prices up by 1.3 percent, mainly as the index heavyweight oil exploration and production stocks soared up following the news of OPEC\u2019s decision to cap oil production.
\nThese losses might not be of huge value, but it should be enough to sound alarms for the political leaderships of both countries on how to chalk up a future course. Any wrong move on the part of one country could result in such huge financial losses that could severely harm the progress of the region.
\nIndia, being the leader in the South Asian region, in both its size and economically, should have realised the ramifications of such a decision on the whole region. Both Pakistan and India are in a developing phase, and such moves that could potentially cripple the progress would further deteriorate the conditions of the millions of poor in these countries. Both the countries know the chronic problems they are facing. Except for education or maybe a few other departments where India is ahead of Pakistan, life of the common man is identical in both the countries. A recent study highlighted that more than 50 percent Indians still do not have access to indoor toilets. Similarly, poverty rates in both countries are on the rise. More than 70 percent people in the region do not have access to clean drinking water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While both Pakistan and India were trying to portray the escalation at the LOC as normal cross-border firing and surgical strikes respectively, there were certain casualties far away from the disputed border that have gone unnoticed. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in Karachi and India\u2019s broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) were two of these casualties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n