Pakistani Officials informed that Islamabad is not aware of withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status by India. After the Pulwama Attack, India decided to revoke the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status and pressurize Islamabad to act against the terrorists behind the attacks.
India Highlights Security Reasons Behind Withdrawal Of Pakistan’s MFN Status
After the deadly terror attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama, India announced the withdrawal of the MFN status for Pakistan and increased the customs duty by 200 percent on goods originating from Pakistan with immediate effect on Saturday. Adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood informed media that India has not informed Islamabad about withdrawing Pakistan’s MFN status.
“We are looking into the withdrawal of the MFN status by India. We can speak to India about this issue” Dawood said.
Further, he said that As both countries are members of the global trade body, Pakistan can raise this issue at different forums including the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
In 1996, India granted the MFN status to Pakistan but Islamabad has not reciprocated. The WTO member country is required to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner in the context of MFN Pact. India’s decision will have an impact on Pakistan’s exports to India as it would intensify the prices of its goods.
Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet: “India has withdrawn the MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect,”
The officials said that by imposing an import duty of 200 percent means almost banning the imports from Pakistan. During April-October 2018-19, India’s exports to Pakistan stood at USD 1.18 billion, while imports were USD 338.66 billion. Indian exports to Pakistan include raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, manm, de yarn and dyes.
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