ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has given a clear and unequivocal message that relations with India cannot be normalized without giving Kashmir the right to self-determination.
The meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan agreed on the decision not to resume any trade with India. Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi and senior Foreign Ministry officials attended the important meeting on relations with India. The Foreign Ministry briefed Prime Minister on proposals for trade with India.
According to sources, the meeting agreed on the decision not to resume trade with India and said that no trade could take place until the constitutional situation in occupied Kashmir was restored.
PM Imran Khan said that our position in principle is that there will be no trade with India without resolving the Kashmir issue, this will give the wrong impression that we should ignore Kashmir and start trade with India. Relations with India cannot be normalized without giving Kashmir the right to self-determination.
It may be recalled that the federal cabinet had yesterday rejected a proposal to import sugar and cotton from India. The ECC had proposed to import sugar and cotton from India.
The Cabinet’s Economic Co-ordination Committee announced the resumption of Pak-India trade after a 19-month hiatus and approved the import of sugar, cotton and yarn.
Finance Minister Hammad Azhar said that in view of the increase in sugar prices, it was decided to open sugar trade with India, to improve the situation of sugar supply, it was decided to import 500,000 tons of sugar from India. It will directly benefit the people. He said that this year there is a difference of 15 to 20 percent in the prices of sugar in India and Pakistan, so he decided to import sugar from India.
