Pakistan has not stopped Afghan traders from moving their products to India through the Wagah border, Foreign Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria said on Saturday.
“Pakistan is fulfilling its commitment to the Afghan people by providing them a trade transit facility,” he told BBC Urdu. He clarified that under Islamabad’s bilateral agreement with Kabul, only Indian goods could not be imported into Afghanistan through Pakistan.
Zakaria’s remarks came in response to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s threat of blocking Pakistan’s land access to Central Asia if it did not allow Afghan traders to take their goods to India via Wagah.
“If Pakistan does not allow Afghan traders to use the Wagah border for imports and exports of their goods, Afghanistan will also not allow Pakistan to use Afghan transit routes to reach Central Asia and other countries for exports,” he said in a meeting with the UK’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Owen Jenkins, in Kabul on Friday.
A spokesperson for Pakistan’s trade ministry also denied this charge while talking to BBC Urdu. “Under the Pak-Afghan transit trade agreement, Afghan products go to India through Wagah. There has been no change in this policy in Pakistan,” Muhammad Ashraf said.http://tribune.com.pk/story/1180422/wagah-open-afghan-traders-fo/
Comments are closed.