KARACHI: Indian Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher has written to the home ministry asking that mobile phone SIM cards issued in Pakistan be allowed access in India, Economic Times reported.
Kher wrote that this unilateral move will enhance business and trade ties between the two neighbouring countries. He further added that Pakistanis travelling to India on visas are not terrorists, according to the Indian business newspaper.
The commerce secretary’s letter comes ahead of a meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her Pakistani counterpart Khurram Dastgir Khan, scheduled for July 24.
This will be the first bilateral meeting between ministers of the two countries since the Modi-led government took charge in May this year. Sitharaman and Khan will meet in Bhutan on the sidelines of the South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) council to hold talks on bilateral trade liberalisation.
Kher has also raised the matter with the telecom department. They have reportedly said that Pakistani SIM cards may be allowed to function in India subject to the home ministry’s decision.
Although Pakistani businessmen are granted a visa allowing them to visit 10 cities in the country, they are forced to procure local SIM cards or resort to other means of communication.
Similarly, Pakistan does not permit Indian issued SIM cards to function in its territory either.
In return, the Indian government expects Pakistan to soon grant Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) to them, which will facilitate more trade, according to the Economic Times.
However, earlier Pakistan deferred the decision to grant NDMA to India in order to avoid favoring any Indian political party ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Federal Minister for Commerce Engr Khurram Dastagir had said in April, insisting the programme had not been shelved.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to New Delhi to attend the swearing-in ceremony of India’s new Prime Minister Narendra Modi had generated optimism of a ‘new beginning’ in a relationship marred by decades of hostilities between the two neighbours.
The two premiers met after the ceremony and trade ties and economic revival between the two countries was discussed among other things.
COMMENTS (9)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713425884-0/Tribune-Collage-Feature-Images-(10)1713425884-0-270x192.webp)
@Alann: Its not the Pakistani businessmen and tourists coming to India the problem, its the militants which posses a problem . How can one differentiate between Pakistani Businessmen & Tourists (Earnings for India) and the Pakistan Based Militant Terrorists who are termed by the Pakistani Government as Non-State Actors? . Cheers
I think its a bad idea and whosoever is thinking it, should be shown the door. Its a security threat and should not be allowed. Instead, the tourist or businessmen,visiting India, who need to contact back to home in Pakistan, should be allowed to buy Indian SIM after clearance from local Police.
A super power harboring the greatest no of super poor in the world! delusion of grandeur.
@FAZ: Yeah because your Punjab government doesn't give a damn about the IDPs. The IDPs need your help and you are wasting millions on metro buses and trains and all this other unnecessary stuff. Please, KPK and Balochistan have suffered in this war much more than you have, and you still don't help us? This is why there are Balochi insurgent groups in Pakistan. The federal government only looks after Lahore and then the rest of the country feels like they are in the home a step father. So the Punjab government is not doing it's fare share of work. It doesn't matter if it can be a security threat to your province, what have KPK and Balochistan done to have them in our cities and villages? We accepted them because we felt an obligation as a Pakistani to help our refugee brothers. But sadly, Shahbaz Sharif doesn't feel that way as he distinguishes himself as a Lahori/Amritsari not as a Pakistani. He's willing to inaugurate construction and finance projects during his frequent visits to Amritsar, yet he can't give something to the IDPs.
Let us consider a hypothetical bomb blast and pakistani SIM is found in India or indian SIM is found in pakistan who is going to take the onus of finding who perpetrated the issue. Both govt. will blame each other and end of it innocent people suffer while policies are enacted with a lil actual co-operation between govt. on security matters.
@Alann: Actually it is the unregistered Afghan sims that is the main problem. Roaming facilities of Afghan sim has been stopped by PTA recently. Secondly, sims to IDP's are not distributed like mangoes! These victims are registered first in the camps. These camps are very much limited to KPK at present.
So the country that you Indians call the next superpower in 10-15 years, is incapable of defending it's borders against a few dozen militants from a country that is a quarter of it's size? Do you see America not catching the criminals that come in from Mexico? You cannot be a superpower while having a weak border defense. What kind of superpower do you guys claim to be?! At least in Pakistan we know our place in the world has not been good for the last 20 years, but you Indians can never admit that about your country. Hahaha. oh look a raper!
Its not the Pakistani businessmen and tourists coming to India the problem, its the militants which posses a problem. Pakistani Sims should not be allowed in India. Already Pakistan has millions of illegally used sim cards with no knowledge of who uses them. Recently Pakistan also gave away thousands of sim cards to IDPs from North Waziristan! This possesses a problem to India's internal security.