THIS is apropos of the letter ‘MFN status for India: need for caution’ (Nov 11) by Iqtidar Siddiqui. The writer states that Pakistan is showing some spectacular ‘magnanimity’ in allowing the MFN status to India. Their foremost error is to translate it into Urdu.

‘Favour’ they understand to mean what the president and his cabinet ministers confer on their favourites: favouritism. So, in their perception India would be receiving more favours than any other country (most favoured), including China and the US.

That is why another writer quoted by I.A. Rahman in this paper called it the greatest disaster after the 1971 one. I won’t go into a lengthy explanation of what MFN translates to in practice. Instead I would like to point out that India displayed this gesture in 1996.

S. G. JILANEE Karachi