ISLAMABAD: The Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP), while supporting the decision to suspend trade with India, has appealed to the government to allow those Indian origin goods in local markets that have already arrived at Pakistani airports or seaport.

Moreover, EFP has feared that life-saving drugs, which are imported from India as raw material or in finished form, may vanish from the market and requested to relax the rules until some alternative source for the import is arranged. EFP vice president Zaki Ahmed Khan said in a statement on Saturday that the manufacturers of Pakistan fully supported the decision of the government to suspend all trade with India.

“This has sent a strong and favourable message to the business community to source their imports and exports from countries that are not inimical to the sovereignty of Pakistan,” he said. However, Mr Khan said, Indian goods which had reached airports or seaports should be exempted.

He said that APIs (active pharmaceutical ingredients), imported from India to manufacture life-saving products by the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan, should be allowed on the condition that the pharmaceutical companies would immediately develop alternative sources of these APIs within a reasonable and mutually agreed upon time with the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2019