To be fair to Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, trade with India is very much his area of responsibility, for the last Finance Minister to express support for it, the PTI’s Hammad Azhar, lost the portfolio after just a few weeks on the job. Perhaps Senator Dar knows well that the present BJP government of India has no intention of taking him up because its Hindutva ideology prohibits it from any developing of trade ties with Pakistan, but is also goes into an election later in the year in which the main plank of its campaign platform will be a visceral hatred of Pakistan. Senator Dar did not really express support for the idea, just saying that the government would seriously look into reopening trade with India. However, considering the sensibilities involved, even such a statement not only takes considerable courage, but involves a committing of the PML(N) government to a course of action that was not really foreseen.
Trade with India is a hot-button topic because it involves Pakistan’s position in the US-China dispute. The USA sees trade as the means of making Pakistan agree to accept Indian hegemony. There is the little matter of the Kashmir dispute, and the BJP government’s vicious ending of Kashmir’s special status back in 2019, which Senator Dar duly mentioned. However, there are precious few indications that India under the BJP is willing to talk constructively with Pakistan. For example, there is no indication that India has any intention of even talking about the Non-Tariff Trade Barriers that it has erected. Further, India’s attitude can be seen from the way it has sabotaged SAARC, which was supposed to be the principal forum for trade within the region. However, unlike the Indian view that trade should be between itself as hegemon and other countries as satellites, the SAARC framework was supposed to be between sovereign states.
However, Senator Dar apparently needs more time to settle into his new role. It is no help that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is relying on him because of his experience, like making him head of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization. There will inevitably be numerous areas where his experience at Finance will give him an advantage as Foreign Minister, but he must be made to restrain himself. It would perhaps have been best if the statement on trade with India had come from the Finance or Commerce Ministers. Even now, they should be left to follow up.
