ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Miftah Ismail stated Wednesday the federal government will reflect onconsideration on importing items from India as the cash-strapped nation looks for choices to cushion the impact of the devastating floods.
The idea to import edible items from India was first floated by the finance minister Monday, when the country’s death toll crossed 1,100, hundreds of thousands of people had been displaced, and lots of acres of crops have been destroyed.
In a assertion issued on Twitter today, the finance minister stated that greater than one international agency has approached the government to permit them to carry meals items from India thru the land border.
“The govt will take the decision to allow imports or not based on supply shortage position, after consulting its coalition partners and key stakeholders,” Miftah said.
Miftah’s statement comes after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif — while speaking to international media personnel — ruled out the possibility of importing goods from India.
“The PM virtually ruled out the possibility of vegetable imports from India to overcome shortages triggered by using devastating floods, saying the two facets needed to speak about the human rights situation in India-held Kashmir,”
PM Shehbaz, however, stated that he used to be prepared to have a talk with his Indian counterpart — Narendra Modi — over the issue.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce has determined to import onions and tomatoes from Afghanistan and Iran to control soaring prices in the country.
In response to the finance minister’s proposal, PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry stated that his party will no longer let the flood emergency be an opportunity to open trade with India.
Taking to Twitter, Fawad stated that the actions of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are now not solely anti-Muslim however additionally against humanitarian values.
“Pakistan-India exchange can’t take place with these actions in place. [We] strongly oppose such decisions. Loyalty with the blood of Kashmiris is a must,” he wrote.
Pakistan formally downgraded its trade relations with India in August 2019 to the level of Israel with which Islamabad has no trade ties at all. The choice had come as a response to India’s choice to revoke Article 370 of its constitution that granted occupied Kashmir a special status.
