VictorBuzz

India and Pakistan are two well-known rivals for a very long time. Since the independence of India it separated into two parts and the other one is Pakistan and from then the relations of the two countries are continuously degrading and its reason is Pakistan because they have always competed with India since independence. India and Pakistan share a long border with each other but then also there is not a good amount of trades between the two countries. Pakistan is not on the list of India’s 35 top exporters or importers as well as India does not have any place in the top 10 exporters or importers of Pakistan.

Last year in August Pakistan suspended all the bilateral trades with India and the relations got worsened between the two countries and the decision taken by the Pakistan government was in response to scraping article 370 from Jammu Kashmir. As a result of this decision by the Indian Government, Pakistan raised the issue that India has violated the resolutions of the United Nations on the Kashmir issue, further they downgraded the diplomatic relations and bilateral trades and they raised the issue of India’s decision of dividing the state into to Union Territories. This announcement of completely suspending all bilateral trades was taken by Pakistan after 5 months when India revoked its most favored nation status which it had in accordance with Pakistan in 1996. India took this decision when the attack in Pulwama took place and 40 Indian army personnel were killed in the attack and the accused was none other than Pakistan. world bank database says that in 2017 India’s GDP was at $2,600,818 million with $1800 per capita income and Pakistan’s GDP was $304,952 million with a per capita income of $1580. well, the same situation was not always the same, after independence, for about 3 decades Pakistan’s economy increased by 5-6 % whereas the Indian economy performed only 2-3 % and Pakistan has a higher per capita income in this time. Since 1970 India’s growth rate improved a lot than its the past and due to political instability in the country, Pakistan’s growth went down decade by decade.

Pakistan and India do not import and export to each other with a much amount and value due to conflict between two countries. But in some fields like agriculture, Pakistan imports 12.77% of its agricultural raw material from India along with 12.40% of total textiles and clothing, chemicals around 8.22%, and a percentage of 6.49%of rubber and plastic. And Pakistan is among the top 10 countries from which India imports hides and skins. Besides these things, there is no other thing between the two countries for which they import or export from each other. Today the bilateral trade relations have been demolished between two countries but in the initial years the two countries we can say solely depended upon each other for many import and export. At that time 70% of Pakistan’s exports were directed towards India and 63% of Indian export went to Pakistan. The dispute between two countries is affecting the country and its citizens on a very huge level because the amount of budget which goes to the army and military can be diverted towards the betterment of common people because of both the South Asian countries and developing and people are suffering from malnourishment, illiteracy, bad infrastructure. The estimation says that if the growth rates of the two countries continue to follow the same trend as it is following from years to the year 2047 when both the countries turn 100 years then the per capita income in India will be 4.11 times higher than Pakistan. Pakistan got affected more than India because of youth and their political instability and some estimation says that Pakistan has to produce 1.5 million new jobs every year just to maintain the current unemployment of the country. Pakistan definitely didn’t give a thought to the report of the world bank in which it says about how Pakistan can revive its economy when it turns 100. In that report trade ties with India are the most viable option for Pakistan to help itself as we know that its trade with China has already made Pakistan a beggar in front of china and they are using it for their profit, and furthermore, trades are limited with China.

The suspended trade bonds with Pakistan do not affect India that much but yes it would definitely make a plus point to the Indian economy because the transport charges would definitely be reduced and Pakistan allows transit. The geographic position of Pakistan is in an advantageous position because it connects India to the energy-rich gulf countries, if the relations between India and Pakistan were peaceful then the entire region would stand for gain. India and Pakistan are two countries with a huge amount of natural resources. When we compare them then both the countries can easily fulfill the needs of each other if the relations between them were peaceful. The long-lasting dispute between the two countries is definitely making a negative impact on the growth and economy of both countries. They could have stood tall in the world if both have worked together from independence. But if one country wants to make the relations better then other countries do something very harsh like the Kargil war and the Pulwama attack. The world knows that Pakistan has always initiated in this and India defended itself. But what one can do when the other one is not ready to extend its hand for friendship, but the dispute is definitely taking the common citizen into a bad time. Let’s see what the future would show, history has not been good for both the countries but we can hope for the future that it would be good.