We stand to lose far more by negotiating in bad faith than New Delhi would. It is time to change our tactics. ILLUSTRATION: JAMAL KHURSHID.
First and foremost, Islamabad should keep its word and grant most-favoured nation (MFN) status to India. This simply means that Pakistan pledges not to discriminate against goods and services originating in India. Linking MFN status to non-tariff barriers, which India imposes on all countries, not just Pakistan, seems largely unfair, especially when New Delhi gave Pakistan MFN status in 1996. This is not to suggest, of course, that non-tariff barriers in India are not a problem. Far from it, New Delhi is clearly one of the worst abusers of non-tariff barriers to trade and Pakistani negotiators are right to focus on them as a sticking point during trade talks. Having said that, linking non-tariff barriers to MFN is a bad strategy that will only hurt the Pakistani economy. A far better strategy would be to focus on trade barrier (tariff and non-tariff) concessions that would be the most valuable to it.
We would suggest starting off with food and agricultural commodities. Planting seasons in India and Pakistan tend to be complementary for several food items, and liberalising trade between the two countries would serve to both stabilise and lower food prices on both sides of the border. Such a concession may even be easier to gain, since Indian negotiators have indicated an interest in freer trade in food. A lack of trade across the Wagah hurts Pakistan far more than India. We stand to lose far more by negotiating in bad faith than New Delhi would. It is time to change our tactics.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2014.
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Pakistan wants favours while india wants no discrimination. Notice the difference
Pakistan is blaming India for non tariff barriers but he same hold goods for all other countries too. While Pakistan discriminates by not giving MFN status to India( while India accorded the MFN status to Pakistan long back in the year 1996)
Pakistan needs to first fulfill its years long promise. You cant have business where one guy takes all the initiatives while other guy just makes promises but does nothing.
India's non-trade barriers are not unique to Pakistan. In fact the very fact that India has granted MFN status to India means that It is willing to trade with Pakistan on the same terms and conditions as other countries. By withholding MFN from India, Pakistan is in fact choosing to put extra barriers for trade with India compared to other countries.
In light of that stating that both India and Pakistan are at fault is not a fair statement. You are however correct that Pakistan has negotiated in bad faith in the path - specifically 2011 when India waived its objections to Pakistan specific tax waivers by EU in return for Pakistan agreeing to grant MFN status to India.
Now Pakistan wants some more concessions from India by promising the same MFN status which it failed to honor in the past. Who would take it seriously? It must honor its word on commitments already made before it can expect any more concessions from Indai on the trade front.