No trade with India under 'current circumstances': Pak PM Imran Khan

The Karachi-based Dawn quoting sources said that the prime minister instructed the commerce ministry and his economic team to immediately take steps to facilitate the relevant sectors, value added, apparel and sugar, by finding alternative cheap sources of import of the needed commodities.

The sources told the news outlet that various proposals have been presented to the Economic Coordination Committee which considers these suggestions from economic and commercial point of view. After consideration by the ECC, its decisions are presented to the cabinet for ratification and final approval.

They said that in the present case, a proposal was presented to the ECC to allow import of cotton, cotton yarn and sugar from India keeping in view domestic requirements.

The ECC had decided on commercial grounds to recommend these imports for the cabinet’s consideration. While this decision was not on the formal agenda of the cabinet meeting, the issue was brought up by cabinet members and the prime minister instructed that the ECCs decision be deferred and immediately reviewed, Dawn said.

On Friday, India declined to comment on Pakistan's about-turn on plans to go for limited imports of sugar and cotton from the country.

"We have seen reports on this. But as is evident, we are not the right party to whom this question should be directed at," said Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

On Wednesday, Pakistan reversed its decision and said it cannnot trade with India until the special status of Jammu and Kashmir as it existed before August 5, 2019, is restored.
The Dawn report said Pakistan has constantly stated that any forward movement requires India to create an enabling environment by revisiting its 'unilateral' measures of August 5, 2019.