10 Apr 2021 / 09:00 H.
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By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD, April 1 (Reuters) - Pakistan s cabinet on Thursday put on hold a decision made by the country s top economic decision-making body to allow imports of cotton and sugar from neighbouring India until Delhi reviews its 2019 move to revoke the Kashmir region s special status, the foreign minister said.
In an effort to cool local demand and prices, Pakistan s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday gave the go-ahead for the imports, which was to have ended nearly two years of trade suspension between the nuclear-armed rivals. It was a consensus opinion, including the prime minister, that as long as India doesn t review the Aug. 5, 2019, unilateral steps it took, it wouldn t be possible to normalise relations with India, Pakistan s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said of the cabinet meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, which had to endorse the ECC s decision for trade to start.
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UPDATE 2-Pakistan defers trade with India until Delhi reviews Kashmir s status, foreign minister says
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Pakistanâs peace offer came with fine print. Optimistic Indians failed to read it
Pakistan Army draws its extra constitutional powers by demonising India. It won t accept any change in public perception that could dispel Rawalpindiâs narrative. Text Size:
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Indians are incurable optimists. We got so euphoric when Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said âbury the past and move forwardâ that we glossed over his pointed assertion â âThe Kashmir issue is at the heart of this.â Hopes of an enduring détente had already been raised in February when Indian and Pakistani armies decided to implement a ceasefire along the Line of Control.
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Tara Kartha
Former Director, National Security Council Secretariat
INDIA-PAKISTAN relations resemble nothing more than a game of snakes and ladders, with more snakes than ladders. That tendency was worsened recently by the Imran Khan government taking yet another U-turn on its policies, this time on reopening trade with India, making everyone wonder whether it was even worth trying to get the relations with this troublesome and erratic neighbour on an even keel.
First, the clearance for importing sugar and cotton from India was done by Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee headed by Finance Minister Hammad Azhar, who had attended this meeting on his very first day in office. Till then, it was Prime Minister Imran Khan who was holding charge of the Finance Ministry, after the unceremonious exit of his predecessor Hafeez Sheikh after less than two years in office on March 30. But he was luckier. Another Finance Minister Asad Umar lost his job in just eight months.