‘Stop trade with India till Kashmir issue resolved’

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan should stop trade with India till the Kashmir issue is resolved as the huge trade deficit is helping its “enemy”, which is “oppressing” Kashmiris and harbours designs of a “Akhand Bharat” (Greater India), an editorial in a Pakistani Urdu daily Tuesday said.

It also demanded a probe into the “trade mafia” that had been enrichening itself since the rule of Pervez Musharraf, who stepped down as president in 2008.

“India is Pakistan’s arch-enemy. In its heart, it has never accepted Pakistan’s existence. Is this the reason why the agenda of the partition is still incomplete? The occupied Kashmir Valley is, by all international laws and covenants, a part of Pakistan but India seized it forcibly,” the editorial “Bharat se tijarat kyon? (Why Trade with India?)” in Nawa-i-Waqt said.

Alleging India’s “eight lakh armed forces are finding new ways to harass and oppress innocent people in Kashmir,” the editorial said, adding: “Various United Nations resolutions had affirmed the right of self-determination for the people of Kashmir but India was the biggest obstacle to the issue’s resolution.”

Accusing India of not being ready to resolve the issue, the editorial said India’s terming Kashmir an “inalienable part” demonstrated that it still harboured the dream of “Akhand Bharat”.

“If despite the Kashmir dispute, Pakistan still carries on trade with India, then it will be aiding the Akhand Bharat agenda,” the editorial said.

Citing a report of the State Bank of Pakistan that between 2006-10, Pakistan had run up a deficit of $35 billion, the editorial said: “In the name of trade with India, we bring potatoes, tomatoes, onions, draught animals and meat.”

“There is no way of knowing if the meat is ‘halaal’ (ritually slaughtered and permissible to eat) or ‘haraam’ (illegally slaughtered),” it said, adding the other products could be grown by Pakistani farmers according to the demand.

The editorial also pointed out that Pakistan itself exports meat but still imports meat from India, alleging this was being done at the behest of some “profiteers”.

“Trade with India and that too at a deficit - for what purpose?” it asked, demanding action against all those engaged in the trade for years since the Musharraf era for their own benefits.

“Leave alone trade, cut off all relations with India till the Kashmir issue is solved in accordance with the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”