ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: New Delhi on Tuesday denied having taken a unilateral decision to withdraw tariff concessions for Pakistan under the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (Safta), causing confusion and adding uncertainty to the fate of the regional trade agreement.
On Monday, an official statement read out by Commerce Secretary Syed Asif Shah to mediapersons here said that India had decided to withdraw tariff concessions extended to Pakistan under the agreement.
The statement was issued at the conclusion of the second Safta ministerial conference in Kathmandu.
The conflicting statements from the two sides indicate that the enforcement of the regional agreement is still a long way to go.
Indian High Commissioner Satyabrata Pal told Dawn that at a press briefing, his country’s Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had urged Pakistan to comply, in letter and in spirit, with Safta -- an agreement which Pakistan had signed and acceded to.
"We have made it clear to Pakistan that there cannot be a qualified implementation of Safta. India and Pakistan will discuss the issue bilaterally, and another ministerial council meeting will review the issue in six months," said Mr Nath as quoted by the high commissioner.
As a gesture, India was not withdrawing, for the time being, the concessions it had extended to Pakistan under Safta, he said, adding that India stood for consolidating Safta and had already implemented its obligations under the agreement.
India had the right and the option to deny Safta benefits to Pakistan because India was not receiving similar benefits from Pakistan under the agreement, he quoted Mr Nath as saying.
