are many products that did manage to enter the Indian markets and their acceptance give businessmen the hope that if minor non-tariff hurdles are removed they will have access to a huge consuming population across the border.
He said Indian negotiators engage with private sector and Pakistani officials and concede that the hurdles are unfair and assure that they would remove these barriers to trade, adding that the practice is going on for more than a decade but no barriers have been removed so far.
Cement manufacturers have to get quality certification from Indian experts and the procedure to obtain that certificate takes six months and is granted for one year only. Moreover, the renewal process starts after expiry of earlier certification which again takes six months.
“In the meantime, the mill cannot export to India,” Iftikhar said.
Moreover, exporting cement through railway wagons has been effectively banned. Only a few cement loaded trucks are cleared by the Indian customs at Wagah border. However, hundreds of trucks loaded with cement raw materials, which are available abundantly in Pakistan, are cleared promptly by the custom authorities.
A textile entrepreneur Mian Muzzafar Ali said the Indian designs about Pakistan could be judged easily by its deeds.
In 1965, Pakistani industry was totally dependent on Indian raw materials. At the start of September 1965 Indo-Pak war India blocked all supplies to Pakistan resulting in closure of many industries as Pakistani entrepreneurs searched for alternate raw material supplies from Far East.
Furthermore, India gave Pakistan MFN status in 1996. The trade started improving at that time but in 1999 many Indian suppliers refused to ship goods to Pakistan because of Kargil war. Similarly, when the global cotton prices hiked, the Indians against all global norms refused to honour the confirmed orders of cotton. Again, when Bombay killings occurred, India suspended trade and cultural ties with Pakistan.
However, Pakistani governments continue to express their will to engage Indians in dialogue.
The entrepreneur further said India has now again suspended foreign ministers’ dialogue because Pakistani foreign minister is scheduled to meet leadership of Indian held Kashmir, labelling it as a routine matter by the Indian authorities.
He said Pakistani planners fail to realize that all duties levied by India on all possible imports from Pakistan are lopsided.