Pak Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar — X

AMN / WEB DESK

Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that his country will consider restoring trade ties with India that remained suspended since August 2019 when Narendra Modi-led government revoked the special status 370 of Jammu and kashmir.

“Pakistani businessmen want trade with India to resume,” the foreign minister said while addressing the media at the Pakistan High Commission in London at the end of his visit to the UK and Europe on Saturday.

Pakistan downgraded its ties with India after the Modi-led government unilaterally changed the special status of Jammu and kashmir in August 2019 — the decision that Islamabad believed undermined the environment for holding talks between the two countries.

Recently, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Shehbaz Sharif on becoming the head of Pakistan’s government, prompting hopes for a diplomatic thaw. 

“Congratulations to [Shehbaz Sharif] on being sworn in as the prime minister of Pakistan,” Modi wrote in a brief message on X, formerly Twitter.

Shehbaz Sharif responded days later with an equally curt post, thanking Modi for his “felicitations”.