Pakistan rules out normalising ties with India until revocation of August 5 move

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Thursday that normalisation of Pakistan-India ties was impossible unless India reviewed its unilateral steps of August 5, 2019 – rescinding the special status of Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

The foreign minister, in a video message, said that the federal cabinet meeting on Thursday deferred an Economic Coordination Committee’s proposal for the import of cotton and sugar from India.

After detailed discussion and debate over the matter, the federal cabinet decided to put it off sugar and cotton import decision from India, he added.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan and the cabinet members unanimously believed that normalization of Pakistan-India ties was impossible until New Delhi revokes its August 5, 2019, decision.

While addressing the media regarding decisions taken in the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad today, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhary said “Pakistan is keen to improve relations with India but it could never be at the cost of Kashmir.”

Fawad Chaudhry said that the government has decided to take legal action against all those people held responsible in the Broadsheet commission report.

Addressing a press conference after chairing a meeting of the ECC the other day, Finance Minister Hammad Azhar had said the committee allowed the private sector to import half a million tonnes of sugar from India.

Beside sugar, he said the ban on the import of cotton from the neighbouring country is being removed until June-end.

“Pakistan decided to import sugar from India to plug the shortage of the commodity and stabilise its prices,” Hammad Azhar explained. “Sugar to be imported from India will be Rs15 to 20 cheaper.”

“The import of cotton from India will benefit small and medium enterprises (SMEs),” he said.