At a time the Indian army is committing daily violations of the peace agreement by continuous shelling on the Line of Control, New Delhi has invited Pakistan to attend a ministerial conference of the World Trade Organization scheduled to be held in March to iron out disagreements on subsidies and duties on fisheries and other commercial goods. Since the Bhartiya Janata Party took over the rein of the government in India four years ago, it started a policy of confrontation with Pakistan for domestic reasons. Even the driving force behind the birth of the Janata Party and its coming to power was anti-Pakistan rhetoric which it used successfully before and after the elections. Both the countries had signed an agreement back in 2003 to keep peace and stability on the border and coordinate not only for the resolution of outstanding issues, but also for the enhancement of trade volume. However, the new Indian government held up a jingoist posture and left no stone unturned but to spoil peace and regional stability for one reason or the other. India was a rising economic power during the previous Congress government, but now the ratio of the progress has been nose diving. The Modi government failed both on the internal and external fronts.
Earlier, India had bulldozed a conference of the SAARC heads of states which was scheduled to be held in Islamabad two years ago. After years of conflicting statements and hostilities, now the Indian government has invited Pakistan to attend the WTO moot. A mini-ministerial conference of the member states of the World Trade Organization is arranged to make fresh efforts to reach consensus on issues, including on fisheries subsidies and e-commerce duties. Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik has been invited to attend the conference, but the Pakistan government has to decide if he would be available for the meeting or not. The Indian government has been exposed not only as a troublemaker in the regional context, but also in the international forums where it always tries to put horse before cart by floating unreasonable demands. Reports suggest bilateral trade between the two countries was in the India’s favour as Pakistan’s exported goods worth only $392 million in 2014 while its imports from India remained $2.1 billion. Now the government should take clear stand on the issue and send the minister with an agenda to plead Pakistan’s case in the international forum effectively.
