LATE last week, hundreds of protesters came out onto the streets of Lahore and Muzaffarabad to protest Pakistan’s intention to grant Most Favoured Nation status to India. The participants were largely members of right-wing parties and extremist groups. But Pakistan has been considering granting MFN status to India for some time, and it has been weeks since the cabinet’s intention to do so was made public. And while Jamaat-i-Islami did hold protests across the country earlier this month, the demonstrations on Thursday and Friday consisted of a broader group of right-wing organisations, including JI, Jamaatud Dawa, and, according to some reports, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-i-Mohammad. Both the timing of the protests, and the presence of groups that are either banned or are known to be associated with banned outfits, raise questions about who instigated them, and to what end.

The most significant impact of the MFN decision will be on the business community, which has, by all accounts, been supportive of it, recognising the enormous economic benefits that can result from opening up trade with India. The commerce ministry has been taking industry stakeholders into account to help shape the regime and address the concerns of those who might feel threatened by an influx of Indian goods. Why, then, the need for these self-styled defenders of Pakistan to get involved? While the protesting groups — at least those that are not banned — have the right to demonstrate, their agenda is clearly ideological, not economic. Their rhetoric took full advantage of the misleading MFN label, which in reality simply means treating India at par with other trading partners. Much of the language in these gatherings also centred on Kashmir, betraying the old unwillingness to improve relations with India in any sphere without a favourable resolution of that issue. The entire thrust of the current dialogue with India, however, is that all issues should finally be on the table without preconditions. A one-track approach to the relationship was not working and has rightly been abandoned. Those backing the demonstrations that took place last week need to embrace the new way forward.