Pakistan considers lifting ban on trade with India amid floods

Pakistani authorities said the country might resume trade with arch-rival India amid historic floods that have destroyed vital crops, killed livestock and left more than 1,000 people dead.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail said the government “can consider import” of vegetables and other foodstuffs from India to offer relief to people after the devastation done to Pakistan’s crops.

Food and vegetable prices in the country have skyrocketed after crops on thousands of hectares of land were lost in recent weeks.

The minister said an initial accounting of the damage had been estimated at around 10 billion U.S. dollars.

The flooding from the highest rainfall over three decades has killed 1,061 people since mid-June and affected more than 33 million, mostly in the impoverished south and southwest of the country.

Rescuers are still busy evacuating the stranded, and tens of thousands need food and shelter.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited flood-hit areas on Monday.

Pakistan-India relations fell to a new low after New Delhi revoked a special autonomous status for the part of Kashmir under its control in 2019.

Islamabad downgraded diplomatic ties, suspended bilateral trade and halted cross-border transportation.

However, the government allowed the import of pharmaceutical products from India after the COVID-19 pandemic erupted.

In March 2021, former premier Imran Khan’s government announced the resumption of trade with India, but the decision was rescinded the next day. 

(dpa/NAN)