Free trade with India will destroy the country’s agriculture : Liaqat Baloch

Lahore: Secretary General, Jamaat e Islami, Liaqat Baloch, has said that the present government wanted to destroy the country’s agriculture and the farmers by opening trade with India.

Talking to a delegation of growers at Mansoora on Tuesday, he said that trade with India would be poisonous for Pakistan’s economy and agriculture. He  announced that he would join the farmers sit- in at Wagha border on March 31 against free trade with India.

Liaqat Baloch said that India had occupied Kashmir by force and was  building dams and barrages on the Pakistani rivers unlawfully with a view to convert this country into a desert. On the other hand, the rulers in Islamabad were keen to accord Most Favorite Nation status to India which was the path of destruction. He said that India alone would be the beneficiary of open trade with this country because of different factors, especially the huge subsidy Indian government was giving to its growers on different items.

As against this, the Pakistan government had levied heavy taxes on the farmers due to which the cost of farm products went high and these could not compete with the Indian products.