India to feed Pakistanis!
THE Government has allowed duty free import of five essential food items including meat/live animals, potatoes, tomatoes, onion and garlic from India to overcome their shortage in the country. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Price Control Committee chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The decision to import edible items from India is being officially projected as a measure to obviate their deficiency at home, but it apparently represents a subtle step towards realization of the grand design of the two countries' economic integration that India has been desperately clamouring for decades. It has always been India's ardent desire to promote trade with Pakistan at the cost of the Kashmir issue and Islamabad has seemingly opted to fall into the Indian trap. Till recently, Pakistan had consistently followed the policy of pursuing settlement of the Kashmir dispute as a prelude to resumption of trade and economic ties between the two countries. But it's being bypassed now on the pretext of meeting the shortage of these edible items. It certainly doesn't need Aristotle's wisdom to understand where it will lead to ultimately. It is certainly shameful that Pakistan cannot even produce sufficient quantity of potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, poultry and meat in the country to meet domestic needs of these items. It's really unfortunate that Pakistan lacks proper planning for production of various crops to meet the local needs. If autarky in wheat production is achieved, there will be shortage in other crops as is being observed this year. We have imported wheat and sugar during the current year. It's time that agriculture sector is organized on a well-planned footing in order to ensure production of various crops in keeping with the domestic requirements. The situation at hand presents an unwarranted scenario due to the failure of the Planning Department, farming community and the Agriculture Ministry to comprehend the domestic consumption of these items and to take steps for their production in required quantity. We do not deem it appropriate to resort to imports of even meat and vegetables from India to meet their shortage, rather than planning and striving to produce them within the country to cater for the needs of the people. It's hoped that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will take note of this failure and take necessary steps to avoid recurrence of such a situation in future years.