According to Pakistan's foreign minister, the Cabinet has decided to call off the decision regarding the allowing of the resumption of partial trade with India, its nuclear-rival neighbor.
The cancellation came after opposition parties in Pakistan slammed the lifting of a two-year-old ban on the import of sugar and cotton from India, claiming that the government had acted without the approval of parliament and tried to normalize relations with New Delhi without first resolving the Kashmir conflict. This decision highlights the vulnerability of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government, which, at the moment, cannot risk being perceived as backing down on the issues concerning India and Kashmir.
According to Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Khan has concluded that Pakistan's trade with India will be suspended until New Delhi reverses its 2019 decision that stripped the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir of its special constitutional status and statehood. Foreign Minister Qureshi believes the ban’s lifting led to the mistaken impression that all ties with India had been normalized.
Pakistan's Finance Minister Hammad Azhar also announced that following a decision made by the country’s top commerce decision-making body, the economic coordination council, the government would allow for the import of cotton and 0.5 tons of sugar from India.
The disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim it entirely. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, the archrivals have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.
Thus, the dispute between the two countries has been continuing for well over fifty years now. There are numerous other similar cases involving different countries all over the world as well. Even though there is no armed conflict in a region, a political conflict brings various disadvantages to all parties involved. According to various studies, political, armed, and even social conflicts can stymie social and economic development. Thus, despite their historical and cultural ties, Pakistan and India have an unresolvable conflict, which is an insurmountable barrier to their well-being and relations.
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