Ishaq Dar leaves after a press briefing, in Islamabad, Pakistan June 10, 2023.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that trade ties between Islamabad and New Delhi have remained suspended since 2019 due to the imposition of “heavy duties” by India on imports from Pakistan after the Pulwama attack.

In a written reply submitted to the National Assembly on Saturday, Mr. Dar, who also holds the deputy Prime Minister’s slot, said: “India decided to impose 200% duty on imports from Pakistan, suspended the Kashmir bus service and trade across the Line of Control after the Pulwama attack.”

According to the Dawn newspaper, Mr. Dar was responding to a question by Pakistan Peoples Party lawmaker Sharmila Faruqui seeking details about trade challenges faced by Pakistan in its relations with neighbouring countries, especially India.

In March, during a press conference in London, Mr. Dar highlighted the eagerness of Pakistan’s business community to resume trade activities with India. However, his office later clarified that Pakistan has no plan to resume trade relations with India which has been “non-existent” since 2019.

Pakistan downgraded its ties with India after the Indian Parliament suspended Article 370 on August 5, 2019, a decision that Islamabad believed undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.

“We have consistently advocated constructive engagement and result-oriented dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir with India…,” Mr. Dar said on Saturday.

The Foreign Minister said that the “onus is now on Delhi to take steps for the creation of an environment that is conducive to peace and dialogue”.

India has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

Islamabad and New Delhi have a long history of strained relations, primarily due to the Kashmir issue as well as the cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

A file photo of Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif 
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has expressed hope for the betterment of ties with India after the general elections in India. Mr. Asif’s comments came days after External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Singapore said that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism almost at an “industry level” and the mood in India now is not to overlook terrorists and it “will not skirt this problem anymore”.

“Our relations with India could be improved after elections there,” Mr. Asif said while speaking to reporters outside the Parliament House in Islamabad on April 1 , adding that the bilateral ties between the two countries have their “own background”.

Voting for 543 Lok Sabha seats in India will take place between April 19 and June 4, spread across seven phases.

Also read: Pakistan to ‘seriously’ consider restoring trade ties with India: Foreign Minister Dar

Islamabad and New Delhi have a long history of strained relations, primarily due to the Kashmir issue as well as the cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan. In 2019, Pakistan downgraded its diplomatic ties with New Delhi after the Indian government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcating the State into two Union Territories. The decision, Islamabad said, undermined the environment for holding talks between the neighbours.

Pakistan has been insisting that the onus of improving the ties was on India and urging it to undo its “unilateral” steps in Kashmir as a sort of pre-condition to start the talks. India has dismissed the suggestion and made it clear to Pakistan that the entire Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were integral and inalienable parts of the country.

New Delhi has also asserted that the constitutional measures taken by the Indian government to ensure socio-economic development and good governance in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir are matters internal to India. It has been maintaining that it desires normal neighbourly relations with Pakistan while insisting that the onus is on Islamabad to create an environment that is free of terror and hostility for such an engagement.

Pakistan, which borders China, India, Afghanistan, and Iran has witnessed tensions with other neighbours, except for China, following cross-border attacks from Iran and Afghanistan.

New Delhi:

In the backdrop of the nearly-four-year border row with China in eastern Ladakh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said the “tension” seen during this period has “not served either of us well”.

He also asserted that India remains committed to finding a “fair and reasonable outcome” but one that is respectful of agreements and recognises the Line of Actual Control.

During a panel discussion at an event held late on Monday evening, the minister said India “never closed doors to talking to Pakistan” but the terrorism issue should be “fair, square at the centre of the conversation”.

Mr Jaishankar, who recently returned from an official visit to South Korea and Japan, shared his thoughts on a range of issues, from the changing nature of diplomacy to the evolving world order, during the ‘Express Adda’ in New Delhi.

Later, he also took questions from a section of the audience that included diplomats, businessmen, academics, entrepreneurs, journalists and foreign policy enthusiasts.

Asked about his views on “offers made from the Chinese side in the past” to resolve the border issue, and whether there was any scenario where he could think that this could actually be resolved, the minister said, “Any country involved in a boundary dispute negotiating, it has to believe … there has to be a solution.”

Questioned on if the current dispensation will get “more empowered with more seats in (Parliament) to talk on the issue”, the Union minister interjected and said, “To me, the territory of India and the fairness of a boundary solution has nothing to do with how many seats … Either it’s a good deal or not a good deal. The issue today is not whether you have a political majority or not. It is whether you have a fair deal on the table that is the issue.”

Mr Jaishankar, a former foreign secretary, also responded to a query from an audience member on the India-China relationship.

“I think it is in our common interest that we should not have that many forces on the Line of Actual Control. I think it is in our common interest that we should observe the agreements that we have signed. And, I believe that it is not just in common interest, I believe it is in China’s interest as well. This tension that we have seen for the last four years has not served either of us well,” he said.

“So, the sooner we resolve it, I genuinely believe it is good for both of us. I am still very much committed to finding a fair, reasonable outcome. But one which is respectful of agreements recognises the Line of Actual Control and doesn’t seek to change the status quo. That, I think, will be good for both of us,” the minister added.

The eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Lake area.

Ties between the two countries nose-dived significantly following the clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.

India and China recently held a fresh round of high-level military talks to resolve the border row that witnessed both sides agreeing to maintain “peace and tranquillity” on the ground but there was no indication of any breakthrough.

Mr Jaishankar also took a question on India-Pakistan ties and if New Delhi would be open to a conversation if Islamabad reached out.

“We have never closed our doors on talking with Pakistan. The question is what to talk about … If some guy has that many terrorist camps … that should be the central part of the conversation,” he said.

When asked if there could be a conversation with the Pakistani military, he said, “It doesn’t work that way. It is not that we choose between this and that.”

“As I said, we have never closed our doors to talking to Pakistan … but the terrorism issue should be fair, square at the centre of the conversation. It is the major issue … I am not saying there are no other issues. But I am not going to duck that issue for the sake of talking,” the minister said.

One member of the audience also asked if India’s policy towards the US has had any impact on Russia’s policy towards China, to which Mr Jaishankar said that was a “correlation I wouldn’t agree with”.

“If Russia and China have become closer that is not an issue … that is not a doing of India. That may or may not be a consequence of the situation in which Russia finds itself in vis-a-vis the West … Our policy towards Russia has been very fair, very objective,” he added.

On the Myanmar issue, he said, “Frankly the developments … are worrying”.

“If there is no central authority and you have a very fractured system, then all set of other problems happen. It creates a fertile ground for a whole set of illegal activities, which then also impinge on our end…,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)