MEA refuses to comment on Pakistan's U-turn on Cotton and Sugar import resumption

On Friday, India refused to comment on Pakistan's flip-flop on plans to go for limited imports of sugar and cotton from the country. On Thursday, Pakistan's Cabinet rejected the proposal of a high-powered committee to import cotton and sugar from India.

"We have seen reports on this. But as is evident, we are not the right party to whom this question should be directed," said Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said there can be no normalisation of ties until New Delhi reverses its decision to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. This came days after the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) under newly-appointed Finance Minister Hammad Azhar decided to buy the two key items from India, lifting a nearly two-year-long ban on their import from the neighbouring country.

Bagchi said he does not have any information on whether India is planning to restore the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. India withdrew the MFN status to Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack in 2019.

Pakistan's U-Turn on resuming Cotton & Sugar Imports from India

Pakistan has once again taken a U-Turn and this time it is on resumption of import from India. On 26th March, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in his capacity as Minister of Commerce presented the proposal to resume the import of Cotton and Sugar from India during the Economic Coordination Committee meeting. 

But the irony is the decision that Imran Khan took as the Prime Minister of Pakistan. On April 1, the Imran Khan-led cabinet took a U-Turn and decided not the give a go-ahead to his own proposal. Pakistan said that it needs reconsideration, while once again raking up the issue of Abrogation of Article 370 and 35A in Jammu and Kashmir. The documents exclusively accessed by Republic World also show how Khan succumbed to pressure from the ISI and Pakistan Army and rejected his own proposal.

Meeting With Jaishankar Not 'finalised Or Requested': Pak FM Qureshi

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said no meeting has been "finalised or requested" so far with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar on the sidelines of the 'Heart of Asia' conference on Tuesday at Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, according to a media report on Monday.  As per PTI reports, when asked about media speculation that India and Pakistan have been quietly negotiating for the full resumption of diplomatic relations, Qureshi said, “No such decision yet.” Jaishankar last week also did not give a specific reply to questions on whether he will meet Qureshi on the sidelines of the conference.

"My scheduling is in progress. So far I do not think any such meeting (is scheduled)," he said at the India Economic Conclave in New Delhi on March 26.

'Heart of Asia'

The conference was launched on November 2, 2011, in Turkey and have 15 countries as part of it. It is a decade-old regional initiative on security and cooperation for a stable and peaceful Afghanistan. Most of the countries are Afghanistan's neighbours and west Asian countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and UAE as part of it. India hosted the same meet in 2016 in Amritsar.

(With PTI Inputs))

(Image Credits: PTI/AP)