High priority: ‘Do homework before trade with India’

Pakistan Kisan Itehad urges government to pay attention to policy-making.

MULTAN: Trade with India should be based on market research and not on point-scoring by the government, said Syed Muhammad Chisti, provincial president of Pakistan Kisan Itehad.

Chisti said there was no objection towards trade with India but research needed to be carried out before going ahead, while speaking to The Express Tribune on the sidelines of a conference being organised for farmers in Multan.

“We have no objection on Pak-India trade but the government has been lagging behind in real market and scientific research,” he said.

Chisti said Pakistan cannot compete with India because their government has been providing petrol to their farmers at Rs35 per litre which is strengthening their farmers. “But here in our country, the leadership of political parties is more interested in scoring points with the US by improving relations with India, rather than investing in research for policies.”

He argued that no industrialist, farmer or even a citizen of the country will allow trade with India at the cost of the economy.

He pointed out that vote of confidence of all the stakeholders was needed while deciding on the issue. “We should import fertilisers, scientific seeds, agricultural machinery and other input only at a lower rate from India,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2014.

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