Reviewing proposal for trade with India, but no change in stance: Pakistan

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar earlier said that his country's business community was interested in a review of the restrictions placed on trade with India

Pakistan is reviewing a proposal for resumption of trade with India even though there has been no change in its position on the matter yet, a spokesperson for the country's Foreign Office (FO) reportedly said on Thursday in Islamabad. Pakistan's trade ties with India have remained suspended since August 2019. 

Reporting on a weekly media briefing, Dawn said that Pakistani FO spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch confirmed that her department was reviewing a proposal for resumption of trade with India. 

Referring to a recent statement by Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar about the country's business community showing interest in a review of the restrictions placed on trade with India, Baloch said, "Examination of such proposals is a regular exercise in the government of Pakistan, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Baloch added, "We continue to consider all such requests and assess our policy.” 

In what was then seen as an indication of a potential shift in Islamabad's diplomatic stance towards New Delhi, Dar last week said that Pakistan would seriously consider restoring trade ties with India. In remarks made during a press conference in London, Dar reportedly highlighted that Pakistan's business community was eager to resume trade activities with India. "Pakistani businessmen want trade with India to resume," the foreign minister reportedly said, adding, "We will seriously look into matters of trade with India." 

In 2019, Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Delhi after India abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the state into two Union Territories. Trade between the two countries was suspended at the same time.  

However, during the Thursday briefing, FO spokesperson Baloch emphasised that so far, there has been no change in Pakistan’s position on the issue. 

Based on sources familiar with the matter, Pakistan's The Express Tribune newspaper reported last week that chances of trade with India being resumed remained elusive because of a lack of consensus among the stakeholders. 

At that time, the paper reported that there was no concrete proposal on the table for resuming trade ties with India. 

According to the report, there were differences of opinion among the relevant stakeholders, including within Pakistan's FO. 

While one side was in favour of sticking to Pakistan's stance that without major concessions from India, there shouldn't be any normalisation in ties, the other side wanted to emulate China, which maintains trade ties with India despite the border disputes between Beijing and New Delhi.  

(With agency inputs)