Pakistan News: Pakistan’s Foreign Office said on Friday that bilateral trade with India is not likely to happen soon. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch was speaking at the weekly media briefing. Citing the situation in Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, Baloch said that there is no point of having bilateral talks with New Delhi.


“The situation remains intact, and at this point there are no bilateral talks between the two countries with respect to bilateral trade between Pakistan and India,” Baloch said, as quoted by Dawn. She was responding to a query pertaining to India’s lack of reciprocation for Pakistan’s overtures for restoring trade relations between the two countries.


Pakistan suspended trade with India after it revoked Article 370, which granted special status to J&K in August 2019 in a controversial move. On August 5, 2019, the Centre revoked Article 370 of the Constitution, which provided special status to Jammu and Kashmir within the Indian Union.


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The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government also brought the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act that bifurcated the erstwhile state into two Union territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.


Mumtaz Zahra Baloch On Gaza Ceasefire Talks


While speaking on the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha, the spokesperson hailed the diplomatic effort and recalled that Pakistan has repeatedly since October 2023 called for an urgent and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza.


“Pakistan is not party to these talks in Doha. So we are not in a position to comment on the details of these negotiations,” she said, as quoted by Dawn. She also noted that Islamabad was “not involved in any mediation” to defuse the situation in the Middle East.


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