Pakistan's Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government can consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India following the destruction of standing crops due to massive floods, three years after Islamabad downgraded trade ties with New Delhi over the abrogation of Article 370. Pakistan is currently witnessing a massive surge in the prices of various edible items as the supply of vegetables from Balochistan, Sindh and south Punjab has badly been affected because of the disaster.
Addressing a press conference, Finance Minister Ismail said that the government could "consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India" to facilitate people after recent floods destroyed crops across the country, state-owned Radio Pakistan reported. He made the comment in response to a question. Pakistan downgraded its trade relations with India in August 2019 after India's decision to revoke Article 370 which granted a special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Citing a source, Dawn newspaper reported that former security adviser Moeed Yousuf was working on some proposals regarding trade with India.
Former Commerce advisor Razak Dawood also spoke on several occasions for the resumption of trade with India, the paper said. In March 2021, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) announced it would allow the private sector to import white sugar from India and cotton via the Wagah border.
However, the decision was reversed within days following severe criticism from the main opposition parties, Pakistan Muslim League, Nawaz and Pakistan People's Party — who are now in a coalition government. With a change in the federal government this year, the Ministry of Commerce in May ruled out the possibility of a resumption of stalled bilateral trade, the paper said.
The response came from the commerce ministry over the widespread speculation on social media that the government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was considering a proposal to resume trade with India.
However, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in June had advocated the case for trade and engagement with other countries, especially India. According to Lahore Market Committee Secretary Shehzad Cheema, one hundred containers of tomato and around 30 of onion are being received at the Torkham border (with Afghanistan) daily, out of which two containers of tomato and one of onion are being brought to Lahore city on a daily basis and the number of containers is absolutely too short to meet the demand in the provincial capital of Punjab.
He said the import of vegetables from Iran via the Taftan border (Balochistan) was not viable as the Iranian government had increased taxes on its imports and exports.
He said the prices of date palm and banana would also go up in the coming days as most of the orchards in Sindh had been destroyed by the floods. Apple supply from Balochistan or other areas had also been stopped due to flooding.
Jawaad Rizvi, a wholesale dealer of Lahore market, told PTI that on Sunday, per kilogram of tomato and onion were available in Lahore's markets at around Rs500 and Rs400 respectively. He said that in the coming days the prices of commodities will increase further as the supply of vegetables from Balochistan, Sindh and south Punjab has badly been affected because of floods.
India views the situation of resuming trade with Pakistan positively. But trade with Pakistan is not possible while Islamabad keeps promoting cross-border terrorism, government sources told on Monday. Their response came shortly after Pakistan finance minister Miftah Ismail said that his government could “consider importing vegetables and other edible items from India” to facilitate people after recent floods destroyed crops across the country.
“We have reports of almost 50 foreign terrorists from Pakistan in India and many are sitting near the border,” the government sources told CNN-News18. “We are open for trade talks but Pakistan needs to act and stop terrorism immediately.”
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in June spoke in favour of trade and engagement with other countries, especially India. However, the foreign office later issued a clarification, stating that there was no change in Pakistan’s policy towards India.
