<p>A parliamentary panel in India has argued in favour of economic ties with Pakistan, noting that the citizens of the two nations have no enmity between themselves.</p>.<p>The parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs in its recent report took note of Pakistan’s “belligerent attitude” to India. It recommended that New Delhi should “continue to remain active and fully prepared to expose Pakistan’s role in the export of terrorism against India at the United Nations and various multilateral and regional fora and appropriately counter any move by the neighbouring nation to raise the issue of Kashmir.</p>.<p>The panel, headed by P P Chaudhary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, favoured economic ties between India and Pakistan, in spite of the “lack of progress” in diplomatic relations between the two nations, if the neighbouring nation comes forward. It argued in favour of “broader people-to-people contacts in view of the cultural commonalities and civilizational linkages between our two countries and no feeling of enmity amongst citizens of both the countries”.</p>.<p>The committee presented the report to the Lok Sabha this week.</p>.<p>India had accorded the “Most Favoured Nation” (to trade with) status to Pakistan in 1996. Though, the Government of Pakistan had on November 2, 2011 had decided to reciprocate the gesture by granting the same MFN status to India, it has not yet implemented the decision. India in August 2012 had announced a reduction of 30% in its SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) Sensitive List for Pakistan and other countries not termed as Least Developed Countries, thus bringing down tariff on 264 items to 5% within a period of three years. Pakistan, however, had continued to follow a restrictive trade policy towards India.</p>.<p>The tension between the two nations escalated in the wake of the repeated violations of ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC), the killing of India’s paramilitary personnel in a terror strike at Pulwama in J&K in February 2019 by a terrorist organization based in Pakistan and the retaliatory air-strike by India on the terror camps at Balakot inside Pakistan.</p>.<p>India had on February 15, 2019, withdrawn the MFN status it had granted to Pakistan. India had also hiked customs duty on exports from Pakistan to 200% the next day. Pakistan had suspended bilateral trade with India on August 7, 2019, just after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had moved to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to reorganize the State into two Union Territories.</p>.<p>Less than a year later, India and Pakistan in June 2020 downgraded diplomatic relations between the two nations, withdrawing half of the officials posted in the High Commissions of the respective countries in each other’s capitals.</p>.<p>The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan also nosedived to $516.36 million in 2021-22 but increased to $ 1.35 billion during April-December 2022.</p>.<p>With Pakistan going through an economic crisis, several in the neighbouring country too argued in favour of normalising trade ties with India.</p>
<p>A parliamentary panel in India has argued in favour of economic ties with Pakistan, noting that the citizens of the two nations have no enmity between themselves.</p>.<p>The parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs in its recent report took note of Pakistan’s “belligerent attitude” to India. It recommended that New Delhi should “continue to remain active and fully prepared to expose Pakistan’s role in the export of terrorism against India at the United Nations and various multilateral and regional fora and appropriately counter any move by the neighbouring nation to raise the issue of Kashmir.</p>.<p>The panel, headed by P P Chaudhary of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, favoured economic ties between India and Pakistan, in spite of the “lack of progress” in diplomatic relations between the two nations, if the neighbouring nation comes forward. It argued in favour of “broader people-to-people contacts in view of the cultural commonalities and civilizational linkages between our two countries and no feeling of enmity amongst citizens of both the countries”.</p>.<p>The committee presented the report to the Lok Sabha this week.</p>.<p>India had accorded the “Most Favoured Nation” (to trade with) status to Pakistan in 1996. Though, the Government of Pakistan had on November 2, 2011 had decided to reciprocate the gesture by granting the same MFN status to India, it has not yet implemented the decision. India in August 2012 had announced a reduction of 30% in its SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) Sensitive List for Pakistan and other countries not termed as Least Developed Countries, thus bringing down tariff on 264 items to 5% within a period of three years. Pakistan, however, had continued to follow a restrictive trade policy towards India.</p>.<p>The tension between the two nations escalated in the wake of the repeated violations of ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC), the killing of India’s paramilitary personnel in a terror strike at Pulwama in J&K in February 2019 by a terrorist organization based in Pakistan and the retaliatory air-strike by India on the terror camps at Balakot inside Pakistan.</p>.<p>India had on February 15, 2019, withdrawn the MFN status it had granted to Pakistan. India had also hiked customs duty on exports from Pakistan to 200% the next day. Pakistan had suspended bilateral trade with India on August 7, 2019, just after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had moved to strip Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and to reorganize the State into two Union Territories.</p>.<p>Less than a year later, India and Pakistan in June 2020 downgraded diplomatic relations between the two nations, withdrawing half of the officials posted in the High Commissions of the respective countries in each other’s capitals.</p>.<p>The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan also nosedived to $516.36 million in 2021-22 but increased to $ 1.35 billion during April-December 2022.</p>.<p>With Pakistan going through an economic crisis, several in the neighbouring country too argued in favour of normalising trade ties with India.</p>
