KARACHI: India, although faced with a three million tons deficit of foodgrains, has declined to accept 175,000 tons of wheat offered by the Pakistan Government, it was reliably learnt … on Saturday evening [Nov 5]. Under the Indo-Pakistan agreement which governs the exchange of essential commodities between the two Dominions, India was to receive 175,000 tons of wheat from Pakistan which she has now refused to accept… .

Describing India’s refusal as “another facet of her economic war on Pakistan”, quarters directly in touch with inter-Dominion trade, believed that this “extremely surprising attitude” had been adopted just to spite Pakistan.

India, informed Karachi quarters said, is faced with a deficit of nearly three million tons of foodgrains and this deficit is estimated to be aggravated by another 500,000 tons annually at the present rate of increase in her population. She could thus ill afford to refuse the food… . Further, these sources said, Pakistan wheat was considerably cheaper to India than American wheat which she was presumably buying… .

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2024