A master of serving its own end, Pakistan keeps switching on and off trade ties with India
Trade plays a vital role in world diplomacy and is quite high at the agenda table of relations between nations. However, Pakistan seems adept in tapping its ties with India very shrewdly, only to its advantage, be it political, commercial or any other. Recently, by unilaterally announcing that it cannot go ahead with any trade with India under the “current circumstances”, Islamabad has yet again betrayed its double standards when the Cabinet headed by PM Imran Khan rejected the proposal of a high-powered committee to import cotton from India. However, the “circumstances” referred to — revocation of the special status to Jammu and Kashmir — were very much present last year when Pakistan lifted the ban on import of medicines and essentials amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. If Pakistan is so steadfast on its stand on the Kashmir issue, why did the Imran Khan regime lift that ban? What explanation could be there other than that it suited its dire need to fight the pandemic and save the lives of its citizens? Pakistan has always tried to interfere in India’s internal matters with respect to J&K and made umpteen attempts to internationalise the issue. Further, it’s nothing new for the Pakistan Army and the ISI to help terrorists infiltrate to the Indian side.
Arms and ammunition meant for use by Pakistan’s Army and paramilitary have time and again been recovered from inbound terrorists. That Islamabad provides tactical and logistical support to the terrorists is an open secret around the globe. However, all this was old hat and bilateral trade relations had therefore still continued, thanks largely to Indian tolerance and some amount of sincerity from Islamabad. But what riled Pakistan to the extent of severing trade ties with India was New Delhi’s move to revoke the special status to J&K in 2019. After that, Islamabad downgraded bilateral diplomatic ties and expelled the Indian High Commissioner. It also snapped all air and land links with India and suspended trade. Pakistan will continue to make efforts to convince the world community that the Kashmir issue is central to healthy relations with New Delhi. However, India’s global reputation is increasing in leaps and bounds — more so after supplying indigenous anti-Corona vaccines to nations across the world, its sincere attempts to strengthen grassroots democracy in J&K and to maintain peace and tranquillity in South Asia — and far overweighs Pakistan’s nefarious designs.