Pakistan will “seriously examine” whether to restart trade with India, said its newly appointed Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar. Responding to questions during a press meet in London, Mr. Dar said he had been approached last year by Pakistani businesspersons over the issue, and said any decision would follow a full discussion with all stakeholders. Meanwhile, visiting Singapore, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar hit out at Pakistan for its “industry-level” support to terrorism, stressing that any talks with Pakistan would need to “face up to the problem”.
In 2019, both India and Pakistan had taken trade measures against each other — after the Pulwama bombing in February, India had withdrawn the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan and raised tariffs on all trade multi-fold, while after India’s Article 370 moves in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019, Pakistan had suspended direct trade ties with India amidst a number of other diplomatic measures. The closure of trade had mostly affected businessmen and transporters engaged at the Attari-Wagah land border, and on Sunday, the Amritsar-based chamber of commerce expressed hope that a rethink would follow after the Pakistani Foreign Minister’s comments, calling on New Delhi to reciprocate.
