The Wagah-Torkhum route is ready for Afghan transit trade, amid an atmosphere of concealment. A Recorder report quotes the Commerce Ministry Joint Secretary Shahid Bashir, who led negotiations for a new Afghan transit trade agreement, as saying "we have successfully convinced Washington that the land transit route for India is impossible in the present circumstances, and they [the US] agreed with Pakistan's viewpoint."
He further said that Pakistan could not allow any facility to New Delhi, considering that the composite dialogue process remains stalled. And that for now, Afghanistan would be allowed 60-70 trucks to transport goods to India, through the Wagah border and bring back merchandise via Torkham and Chaman, and later a third point at Ghulam Khan Kelay in Waziristan.
The US interest in the issue came to light earlier this year, during Pakistani and Afghan President's visit to Washington when a Wagah-Torkham Afghan transit trade MoU was signed. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who oversaw the signing ceremony, had described it as an "historic event", adding it would be put on the fast track and turned into an agreement by the year's end. An agreement is en course. However, its true nature is still unclear.
Clinton's comments had raised many eyebrows in Pakistan since there already existed a Pak-Afghan transit trade treaty. The fact that the MoU was signed in Washington and termed an historic event lent itself to the interpretation that it was aimed at opening up Central Asian markets to India - something it has been wanting for a long time.
But Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, and other officials, firmly denied it had anything to do with India. The commerce ministry official seems to have effectively countered - albeit in a round about fashion - the government's earlier stance as he said Afghanistan had also agreed not to further pursue Pakistan for a land transit route for India, after it is given access to the Wagah border.
The air of secrecy surrounding the issue lends itself to two explanations: An optimistic view suggests that quiet diplomacy is in progress to sort out issues of conflict between Pakistan and India. A lucrative new trade route, like the confidence-building measures before it, is aimed at creating a new peace constituency in India in support of conflict resolution.
The second reason could be that Pakistan has backed away from its traditional stance of linking Kashmir resolution to the normalisation of trade relations. However, faced by Indian intransigence on the resumption of a composite dialogue, Pakistan has started to adopt a tougher position on Kashmir. Which is in harmony with the commerce ministry official's claim that Islamabad has convinced the US that it could not allow transit trade facility to India while the composite dialogue is stalled. Whatever the truth, one thing is clear: there is a lot more to the situation than meets the eye.
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