Islamabad: The Pakistan cabinet at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday turned down a government committee’s decision to import sugar, cotton and cotton yarn from India, saying there can be no trade with India until the special status of Jammu and Kashmir is restored.
“And today Cabinet stated clearly NO trade with India,” Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari tweeted.
The minister said Prime Minister Khan had made it clear that “there can be no normalisation of relations with India until they reverse their illegal actions.”
The cabinet decision comes a just a day after Finance Minister Hammad Azhar announced that the private sector can import sugar and cotton, saying that the decision was taken to improve supplies and discourage price hike in Pakistan.
Notably, Dawn newspaper had on Wednesday reported that PM Imran Khan, who is also in-charge of commerce and textile, had already approved the proposals that were placed before the ECC for approval. It meant that lifting the ban on these products imports from India has the support of the prime minister.