Ag Agencies
ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Thursday deferred the Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) proposal to import cotton and sugar from India, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, until India walks back on its unilateral steps of August 5, 2019, when it scrapped occupied Kashmir’s special autonomy.
The foreign minister, in a video message, said after debating the matter, the federal cabinet did not endorse the ECC’s proposal for the import of cotton and sugar from India and decided to put it off. Qureshi said the cabinet also deliberated over an impression that the relationship between Pakistan and India had normalised and bilateral trade had resumed.
He said Prime Minister Khan and the cabinet members unanimously believe that normalisation of Pakistan-India ties is not possible unless India reviews its unilateral steps of August 5, 2019 in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The ECC said on Wednesday that import permits would be approved in a bid to rein in rampant inflation, but politicians criticised the apparent thaw in relations with their rival. Finance Minister Hammad Azhar had said the government made the decision “in the interest of the people”, when asked why trade was resuming despite no change in New Delhi’s position on Kashmir.
Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed earlier in the day told reporters the decision had been “deferred” until New Delhi restored Indian-occupied Kashmir’s special status. In a media briefing Thursday evening, Fawad Chaudhry, the Science and Technology minister, confirmed the decision.
Islamabad suspended trade and diplomatic ties with India in 2019, when New Delhi imposed direct rule on the disputed region and enforced a heavy security lockdown.
