Imran Khan doubles down, links trade ties with India to Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Pakistan can’t have any trade relations with India till New Delhi reviews its 2019 decision to scrap the special status of Jammu & Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday while chairing a special meeting to review bilateral ties.

The meeting in Islamabad – which was attended by foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Moeed Yusuf, the special assistant to Khan on national security and strategic policy – was convened after Pakistan’s cabinet on Thursday shot down an official proposal to allow imports of cotton and sugar from India to control prices and cope with a shortage.

“After the discussions [on Thursday and Friday], the prime minister clearly instructed that Pakistan will not have any kind of trade with India till India reviews the steps it took in [Jammu and Kashmir] on August 5, 2019,” Yusuf told Ary News channel after the meeting.

According to Geo News channel, which cited a source, Khan told the meeting: “It is our principled stance not to resume trade with India until the Kashmir issue is resolved.”

Any decision on resuming trade with India “will give the wrong impression that Pakistan has neglected the people of Kashmir”, Khan was quoted as saying.

A cabinet meeting chaired by Khan on Thursday rejected a decision made a day earlier by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet to allow limited imports from India. Pakistan had unilaterally suspended trade with India in August 2019 to protest the changes in Jammu & Kashmir.

Qureshi had said on Thursday that the cabinet deferred the move to allow imports from

India so that there could be more deliberations on the issue. He also said it wouldn’t be possible for Pakistan to normalise bilateral relations till India reviews its actions on Jammu & Kashmir.

When external affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi was asked about Pakistan’s flip flop on resuming trade at a news briefing in New Delhi on Friday, he replied: “We have seen reports on this but as is evident, we are not the right party to whom this question should be directed.”

Yusuf said the ECC was the forum that decides on all proposals with a commercial angle. “When it goes to the ECC, the committee makes decisions on the basis of economic and commercial considerations,” he said.

The matter of imports from India went to ECC, and “on a commercial basis, it was decided that [cotton and sugar] be imported from India as the prices are lower in India”, he said.

ECC’s recommendation went to the cabinet, “which is a political and strategic forum” and has the final say in approving such matters, Yusuf noted. “In this case, this issue was discussed though it was not on the Cabinet’s agenda [on Thursday] and the Prime Minister gave the directive that this decision should be deferred and it should be immediately reviewed because matters involving India are not just about trade and many political and strategic issues are linked with them,” Yusuf said.

The decision has annoyed the Pakistan’s textile sector, Dawn newspaper reported. Pakistan Apparel Forum chairman Jawed Bilwani described the recommendation to allow imports from India as “realistic and the need of the hour”, and said Pakistan’s cabinet must give it serious consideration.