Foreign Minister Dar says Pak to 'seriously' consider restoring trade with India

Islamabad: Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar stated that Pakistan will "seriously" look at resuming trade ties with India, which have been halted since August 2019. This suggests that Pakistan may change its diplomatic approach to its neighbour.

Mr Dar made these remarks during a press conference in London following his participation in the Nuclear Energy Summit in Brussels, Geo News reported. He highlighted the eagerness of cash-strapped Pakistan's business community to resume trade activities with India. “Pakistani businessmen want trade with India to resume,” he said on March 23. Pakistan will consider restoring trade ties with India, he noted.

“We will seriously look into matters of trade with India,” Mr Dar was quoted as saying.

His remarks indicated a potential shift in diplomatic stance towards India.

Pakistan downgraded ties with India

Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Delhi after the Indian government abrogated Article 370, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the State into two Union Territories.

The decision, Islamabad said, undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.

Pakistan has been insisting that the onus of improving the ties was on India and urging it to undo its "unilateral" steps in Kashmir as a sort of pre-condition to start the talks.

India has dismissed the suggestion and made it clear to Pakistan that the entire Union Territories of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh were integral and inalienable parts of the country.

New Delhi has also asserted that the constitutional measures taken by the Indian government to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India.

It has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

Despite the frosty ties, the two countries agreed to renew the 2003 ceasefire agreement along the Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021.

Lately, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on becoming the head of Pakistan’s government in a post on X, prompting hopes for a diplomatic thaw. Mr Sharif responded days later with an equally curt post, thanking Mr Modi for his “felicitations”.

The Sharif-led coalition government, which came to power after the February 8 elections, is focusing on reviving the country’s dwindling economy.

With PTI inputs