ISLAMABAD: Legislators in the Senate on Friday strongly called for review of the free trade agreements (FTAs) with China, expressing fears that otherwise Pakistan may become China’s industrial zone like Kashghar. It was pointed out during the discussion on an admitted motion that the demand for review of FTAs was not aimed at undermining Pak-China relations or the CPEC but to effectively safeguard Pakistan’s interests. They regretted that it was not the job of federal secretaries to thrash out and sign such agreements; there was a dire need to involve all the stakeholders and take them on board before finalising such agreements. “In the given scene of FTAs, Pakistan will become a market of capitalist and imperialist forces’ market for dumping their products,” cautioned Senator Kakar and this was a dangerous trend, advocating indulgence of the government and Parliament to rectify the situation. He argued the Parliament should take stand on this matter. Senator Mohsin Leghari, who sits on the treasury benches, pointed out that presently the total volume of Pakistan-China trade was dollars 12.2 billion: Islamabad’s share in it was merely dollars 1.6 billion and the rest belonged to Beijing. He said it was good that Pakistan-China friendship was so strong and time-tested but it might be noted that despite having signed an FTA, on Pakistan’s main export i.e. cotton-related items, China had imposed 3.7 per cent regulatory duty while for ASEAN states, it was just 0.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent for India’s such exports, with which, it had no such agreement. Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak of PTI wondered why Pakistan had signed 7-8 FTAs and PTAs, when it was turning out to be the loser and the other side, gainer. “There are a total of 7550 tariff lines while Pakistan used only 335 of these. Is there something wrong with these agreements or with our exporters and businessmen,” he asked. To the surprise of many, Senator Mohsin Aziz, who also belongs to PTI, strongly opposed devaluing of the rupee and said this would benefit a few, cautioning such step would be very dangerous for the rest. He noted there was a difference between CPEC and FTA and this should be taken as such. PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar complained that information on CPEC-related projects was not being shared with the CPEC committee, of which he was also a member. He said the committee was to leave for China to seek answer to the questions that were not answered during the committee meetings by the government but it had been postponed, as the Senate was to take up the 24th constitutional amendment bill.
