Trade ties with India

This refers to the news story ‘Planners must be cautious in trade terms with India’ (Aug 10). While the volume of official trade between Pakistan and India is small, and the balance is in favour of India, the report does not throw light on the unofficial trade – smuggling – taking place across the border. It is going on unabated and the volume is much larger than the official trade numbers. Many consumer items are being smuggled from India into Pakistan.

We need to plug this unofficial trade as it is damaging our local industries. Trade with India, whether official or unofficial, would always be beneficial to India because it has a large manufacturing base and producing almost everything. So, trade ties must remain totally cut off unless India’s behavior shows marked improvement. There must be a total clampdown on smuggling from whichever source as it destroys our fragile economy.

Arif Majeed

Karachi