ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday reopened a key trade route with neighboring Afghanistan after a closure of almost four years.
Traders in both countries welcomed the move, and expressed hope that it will increase cross-border trade.
Pakistan closed the Ghulam Khan border crossing in June 2014 after its military launched a major offensive against Pakistani and foreign militants in North Waziristan. The area has been almost completely cleared of armed groups.
Ghulam Khan was reopened on Friday “for trial operations,” Pakistani official Kamran Afridi told Arab News. Four trucks carrying almost 240 tons of cement entered Afghanistan from Pakistan, he added.
“The decision to resume trade via Ghulam Khan was taken in the national interest,” he said. “It will help in the development of North Waziristan, and will provide new job opportunities.” Reviving trade will pave the way for better bilateral relations, Afridi added.
Pakistani and Afghan traders expressed hope that all other border crossings will reopen. “There should be no restrictions on cross-border trade,” Zubair Motiwala, chairman of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), told Arab News.
He called for a liberal visa regime for Pakistani and Afghan traders, and said trade should be separated from security and political issues.
Khan Jan Alokozai, co-chairman of PAJCCI, told Arab News: “We welcome Pakistan’s decision to open a major trade route. It will not only boost trade activities, but also promote people-to-people contacts.”
He added: “I’m confident that the decision will also help reduce political tension, as Pakistan has conveyed a positive message to Afghan traders and people.”
Military, local administration and customs officials gathered at Ghulam Khan to welcome Pakistani traders and see them off at the crossing point, Afridi said. Afghan trucks “need a few days for preparation” before they arrive in Pakistan, he added.
Bilateral trade has decreased to nearly $1.2 billion from $2.6 billion in less than two years, Motiwala said earlier this month.
Pakistan reopens key trade route with Afghanistan
Pakistan reopens key trade route with Afghanistan
Pakistan rejects India’s ‘irresponsible assertions’ after FM Jaishankar’s ‘bad neighbors’ remarks
- Indian FM Jaishankar accused Pakistan of fomenting militancy, backed New Delhi’s decision to put Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance
- Islamabad calls the remarks an attempt to deflect attention from India’s ‘troubling record as a neighbor,’ vows to safeguard rights
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday rejected “irresponsible assertions” made by Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar after his remarks about “bad neighbors” and the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between the two countries.
Jaishankar mentioned about “bad neighbors” at an event in Madras on Friday and said that New Delhi had a right to defend itself. “When you have bad neighbors... if you look to the one to the West, if a country decides that they will deliberately, persistently, unrepentantly continue with terrorism, we have a right to defend our people,” he was quoted as saying by The Hindu newspaper.
The remarks came months after New Delhi blamed Pakistan for a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir and conducted missile strikes inside Pakistan. Islamabad, which denied involvement in the Kashmir attack, responded to the strikes, leading to a four-day military conflict that saw the use of armed drones, fighter jets and artillery between the neighbors in May.
In a statement, Pakistani foreign office spokesman Tahir Andrabi said Islamabad firmly rejects the irresponsible assertions made by the Indian external affairs minister, describing the remarks as an attempt to deflect attention from India’s own “troubling record as a neighbor that promotes terrorism and contributes to regional instability.”
“India’s documented involvement in promoting terrorist activities in the region, particularly in Pakistan, is well known. The case of Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav remains a stark example of organized, state-sponsored terrorism directed against Pakistan,” he said.
“Equally concerning are recurring instances of extraterritorial killings, sabotage through proxies, and covert support to terrorist networks.”
Jadhav, an Indian navy officer who Islamabad said had been working with Indian spy agency, RAW, when Pakistani agencies arrested him in Balochistan in 2016. He was later sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court for alleged espionage. India disputes the conviction and has challenged it at the International Court of Justice.
Pakistan and India routinely accuse each other of supporting militant groups waging attacks against the other. The two countries have fought multiple wars, including two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir, since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both rule the region in part but claim it in full.
Jaishankar also spoke on Friday about the IWT that divides control of the Indus basin rivers between the neighbors and ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms. India announced in April, following the Kashmir attack, that it was putting the 1960 World Bank-mediated treaty in abeyance.
“Many years ago, we agreed to a water-sharing arrangement — the belief was it was gesture of goodwill — because of good neighborliness we were doing it … but if you have decades of terrorism, there is no good neighborliness and you don’t get the benefit of good neighborliness,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying.
Pakistan foreign office spokesman Andrabi said the IWT is an international agreement concluded in good faith and at a considerable cost.
“Any unilateral violation of the Treaty by India would undermine regional stability and call into question its credibility as a state that claims to respect international legal obligations,” he said.
“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights under the Treaty.”
