Pakistan’s business leaders want Shehbaz Sharif to 'shake hands' with India for stability in cash-strapped nation

As Pakistan continues to grapple with a historic economic crisis, the country’s top business leaders urged Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to mend ties with India.

One of the business leaders, named, Arif Habib urged the premier that Pakistan should consider improving ties with neighbouring nations especially India in a bid to improve the country’s economy.

According to Pakistani news outlet Geo News, the suggestion was floated at a ceremony attended by the premier during his day-long visit to Karachi on Wednesday.

How Pak’s decision to downgrade ties with India backfired? 

Pakistan downgraded its ties and suspended trade ties with India after New Delhi abrogated Article 370 in 2019. Islamabad stated that the unilateral abrogation of the article undermined the environment for holding talks between the two neighbouring nations.

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However, things have gone downhill for Pakistan since then. The country faced a historic economic crisis as inflation in reached an all-time high. The cash-strapped nation had to take help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after its foreign reserves were depleted to a great extent.

In 2019, India revoked the MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country also repealed a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. These decisions impacted the Pakistani economy to a great extent.

‘Shake two more hands’ 

During the Q&A session, Habib insisted that while he appreciates Shehbaz’s efforts during his previous stint in securing the bailout package from the IMF, the Pakistani premier should “shake two more hands”: one with India and another one with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan.

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The former Prime Minister of Pakistan is currently serving a prison sentence in the Adiala jail over multiple corruption charges. “Secondly, you should also shake hands with an inmate of Adiala jail. I think these two steps will yield positive results,” he remarked.

Khan was ousted from the prime ministerial post after a non-confidence motion was floated against him in April 2022. However, at that time, PTI alleged that Khan’s removal was orchestrated by the United States by supporting the opposition’s no-trust motion.

After a major political turmoil, the PTI founder was arrested in August last year. He was initially sentenced to prison in the Toshakhana case, however, he was later convicted in cipher and un-Islamic marriage cases as well wherein his appeals are currently pending before the respective courts.

While speaking on the occasion, the Pakistani premier said that he doesn’t want to take credit for the “positive things”. “I believe we should take advantage of the opportunities we are getting”, he said, adding that the country’s priority should be exports and growth.

Sharif distanced himself from Habib’s suggestion, however, he admitted that the privatisation process in Pakistan would be ‘extremely transparent’. He also invited foreign companies to participate in the privatization process.

“The government’s role is to provide policy support, not to run industries,” he said, adding that it was time to move away from a ‘rent-seeking mindset’ and focus on hard work.