Himalayan News Service

Islamabad, July 23:

Pakistan will grant India most favoured nation (M-FN) status only after the two countries resolve their outstanding political issues, pakistani commerce minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said. Trade can move forward only in tandem with political progress, Khan said yesterday while explaining the salient features of the Trade Policy 2005-06 that he unveiled earlier in the week. At the same time, Khan said the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) would become operational from January 2006 as had been agreed to by the leaders of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). “Indo-Pak trade has gradually picked up during the last fiscal to about $400 million, but lack of trust has even widened after initiation of so many CBMs (confidence building measures),” The News, which normally reflects the views of the Pakistani establishment, reported today. “The most pronounced example of the deep-gulf between the two nuclear-armed rivals is New Delhi being loath in allowing export of eatables through the land route of Wagah to food-short Pakistan. India asked Pakistan to submit a formal written request to permit trade through cargo trucks at Wagah. The Indians are apparently reluctant to move forward, demanding transit trade facilities with Afghanistan and Central Asia as well as a decision on the MFN status,” it added.

“However, despite a formal official proposal for cross-border movement of trucks, New Delhi is so far delaying the permission on one pretext or the other. Recent statements of Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh questioning the security of Pakistani nuclear weapons, viability of the gas pipeline from Iran, and repeated allegations of cross-border infiltration have also not gone very well for better regional integration,” the newspaper reported. The Pakistani government had in May allowed duty-free imports of five food items, including potatoes, onions and garlic, to check rising prices at home. Procedural delays have now come in the way of these imports. According to Khan, the signing of the SAFTA framework agreement did not automatically grant India MFN status to India. He was of the view that one of the clauses in SAFTA that allowed transit facilities for intra-SAARC trade, especially for landlocked states, would enable Pakistan to export its goods through India to Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. However, it would not entitle India to demand transit facilities from Pakistan for exports to Afghanistan and Central Asia.