Pakistan took a hard line position on trade relations with India, saying all bilateral trade was loaded in India’s favour and seeking to draw a link between India’s cancellation of talks and trade ties. “What we have seen is, as the bilateral trade increased, we have also witnessed hardening of India’s position on Jammu & Kashmir as evidenced in the cancellation of foreign secretary level talks in Islamabad which was scheduled in August last year,” Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit said at a conference in Delhi on Monday.
Claiming that trade is heavily in favour of India, despite India having granted Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan long back, Mr. Basit indicated that granting MFN status to India was not on the cards as there were strong apprehensions about it in Pakistan.
“If Pakistan were to extend MFN status or Non Discriminatory Market Access status, we do not know what will happen to our economy,” he commented.
As the bigger market, Mr. Basit urged India to take more unilateral initiatives in terms of opening up trade and relaxing norms for import of Pakistani goods to India.
Reiterating that Kashmir remains the core issue between the two nations, Mr. Basit stressed that solving it is paramount and focus on soft issues like trade and culture wouldn’t yield results beyond a point.
The High Commissioner was in Pakistan last week and met the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif.
