Amid India-Pakistan Tensions, Bilateral Trade Plans Put on Hold

[tekisui]

New Delhi: The Mumbai terror attack—in which India says Pakistani nationals were involved—will take a heavy toll on trade between the two countries, a federal minister said.

“After trying hard to get the India-Pakistan economic engagement on a fast-forward mode, it is a tragedy. It was working to the benefit of both sides and we were making progress,” said Jairam Ramesh, minister of state for power and commerce. “(Now) no new initiatives will be started. We will have to revisit everything,”

India has dropped trade plans with Pakistan, which it says houses groups that trained and armed terrorists to attack targets in Mumbai. Pakistan, on its part, denies involvement in the terror strikes in India’s commercial capital that left at least 183 people dead.

India’s recent plans to promote trade included removing Pakistan from the list of countries from where foreign direct investment was not allowed due to security reasons; opening branches of State Bank of India and Bank of India in Pakistan; trading in 1,938 items compared with the current 13; and opening the Skardu-Kargil route in Jammu and Kashmir for commerce.

Though trade between the two has traditionally been a sensitive subject, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani president Asif Ali Zardari—at a historic New York meeting in September—had agreed on several measures such as trade in all permissible 1,938 items—as declared by Pakistan—across the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab.

more... http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/07215020/Amid-IndiaPakistan-tensions.html?h=B

[whistle]

1. More Bush/Cheney crisis and chaos creating which will go on right

...through to January 20, 2009 Obama inauguration and then slink into the shadows and behind the scenes keeping turmoil going for as long as Bush, Cheney and the neocons can get away with it!