Is India the most favourable nation of Pakistan?

Is India the most favourable nation of Pakistan?

The Government of Pakistan has recently given the status of ‘most favourable nation’ to India in terms of trade and business. This move has been welcomed all across the world and international political analysts feel that stronger bilateral ties between
India and Pakistan are going to go a long way for the betterment of masses in the South Asia.

Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh has also praised the big-hearted step taken by the Pakistani officials and said that the neighbouring country should have taken this decision much earlier. However, the situation is very different in Pakistan and there
are contradictory emotions in the country.

There is a school of thought within the country that it is the right move and it is the need of the hour to resurrect the ties with India and good relations with all the neighbouring countries are absolutely imperative, if Pakistan is to move forward in
the current world scenario.

This school of thought further emphasis its point by saying that bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is going to give a boost to Pakistan’s economy.   

However, there is another thought, which also gives solid argument that unless or until Pakistan and India settle their disputes, their relations can never be permanently pleasant. There are a number of differences between the two countries but the Kashmir
issue and the dispute on water distribution are the standouts. Some of the critics believe that the major issues must be settled according to the canons of international law, before the two governments can dream of peaceful relations.

This school of though is of the opinion that bilateral trade is going to be extremely dangerous for Pakistan’s economy because being the bigger country, India has a much bigger market as compared to Pakistan and mutual trade could mean a big threat for the
local industry of Pakistan.

The most popular political leader of Pakistan and the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf, Imran Khan has welcomed this move and believes that bilateral trade is going to build confidence between the leadership of the two countries.

Imran has completely written off the military solution to any problem and believes that the political leadership of the two countries must sit together on the dialogue table to solve the dispute.  

“I think that the more confidence we build with each other, the more trade we have, the more trust we develop and the moment militancy or intelligence agencies’ roles disappear and the more we resolve our issues on the dialogue table, that’s the only way
forward. Whatever the solution is, first of all, it should not be enforced through militancy. So whatever policy we have, it should be political dialogue and I also believe we should have other CBMs along the way,” Imran said.

There may be a difference of opinion in the method but there is a consensus in South Asia that Pakistan and India must develop friendly relations, if they are to fight with hunger and to improve the lifestyle of their poor and deprived people.

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Nov 14 2011. Filed under Pakistan, South Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry