Import of sugar from India to sweeten relations

ECC decision to allow cotton, sugar import is said to be part of rapprochement

ISLAMABAD:

The Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) decision to allow the import of sugar and cotton from India is not just aimed at meeting the domestic needs but is part of a gradual process to seek rapprochement with India.

The ECC move raised many eyebrows as some questioned the government’s policy given the fact that it had earlier linked the resumption of trade with India to New Delhi revoking the special status of the disputed Jammu and Kashmir.

Pakistan in reaction to the Indian August 5, 2019 move had taken a raft of measures. It not only downgraded diplomatic ties but also suspended bilateral trade with India.

The government in the past repeatedly stated that any re-engagement with India could only happen if New Delhi restored the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

But Wednesday’s decision suggested that the government was no longer linking the normalisation process with India restoring the pre-August 5, 2019 status of the disputed territory.

When Finance Minister Hammad Azhar was asked to comment on it, he defended the decision by suggesting the government took the decision in the “best interest of the people.”

An official source told The Express Tribune that the gradual resumption of trade ties was part of the larger understanding between the two countries following the ceasefire agreement reached between the directors general military operations on February 25.

As part of the understanding, the countries have decided to take a step by step approach before any structured dialogue between the two countries.

The other measures that the two countries are likely to take in coming months include the restoration of diplomatic ties to the level of ambassadors; encourage people to people contacts by restoring the religious tourism and possibility of bilateral cricket series between the two countries.

A western diplomat while speaking on the condition of anonymity told The Express Tribune that Pakistan and India were pushed by powerful countries to seek re-engagement. He, however, was skeptical whether the process could survive given the complexities of the problems facing the two neighbours.

The question however remains whether Pakistan should re-engage with India without restoration of the Kashmir status to pre-August 5, 2019.

Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri believes that Article 370 is not Pakistan’s concern. “Our stance is based on the UN Security Council resolutions,” he adds. Kasuri, who served as the foreign minister during the Musharraf regime when the two sides were thought to be close to a deal on Kashmir, insists that India has to improve the human rights situation in Kashmir in order to create conducive environment for talks.

Pakistan officially has also been saying that India has to create conducive environment and take the first step for the resumption of talks.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi recently exchanged letters, expressing their desires to have cordial relationship between their two countries.

The Indian Premier greeted Prime Minister Imran on Pakistan’s national day as he expressed his desire to have cordial relationship with the people of the country. But he added that for that to happen “an environment of trust, devoid of terrorism and hostility, is imperative.”

Responding to Modi’s greetings, Prime Minister Imran wrote to him that Pakistan also wished to have peaceful and cooperative relationship with India. He, however, added that durable peace and stability in South Asia was contingent upon the resolution of all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime Minister Imran called on India for creating an “enabling environment for constructive and result orientated” talks.

Foreign ministers of Pakistan and India on Tuesday avoided blame game at the Heart of Asia-Istanbul conference in Dushanbe, in yet another sign of thawing of ties between the two nuclear armed neighbours.