External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday clarified that no discussions had been held with Pakistan over the resumption of trade with India. Speaking at a news conference in Washington, he said, “After last year, there have been no talks with Pakistan on trade, nor has any initiative come from their side.”
Jaishankar also stated that India never boycotted trade with Pakistan and the boycott of trade was made by the government of Pakistan in 2019. “Right from the start, our preference was that India should be the most favoured nation. We were always granting MFN status to Pakistan. But they never gave that status to us,” he further stated.
Why Was India-Pakistan Trade Suspended?
Trade between the two nations was stopped in August 2019, when the then-Pakistan government, headed by Imran Khan, stopped all bilateral trade. This move was taken in response to India’s abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Islamabad also downgraded diplomatic ties with New Delhi as part of the response.
Pakistan Seeks to Revive Trade
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Ishaq Dar acknowledged the long overdue suspension of trade ties since 2019, as late as in August last year. He attributed the situation to India imposing “heavy duties” on Pakistani imports following the Pulwama attack.
India decided to impose 200 per cent duty on imports from Pakistan, suspended the Kashmir bus service and trade across the Line of Control after the Pulwama attack.” The statement is part of a written response by Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Sharmila Faruqui in the National Assembly to a query about challenges facing trade with neighboring countries, particularly India.
While addressing a news conference in London in March, Dar spoke of how the Pakistan business community is keen on restoring trade ties with India. However, his office clarified immediately that there are “no plans to bring back the system which has been non-existent since 2019”.
While Pakistan occasionally reported it wants to resuscitate economic ties with India, no concrete steps have been taken to open a dialogue process with India.
