Pakistan government has resumed postal services with India, that were suspended when Islamabad cut off trade ties with New Delhi in August this year.
The government has silently lifted ban on postal and courier service between Pakistan and India on request received from the private international courier services working in Pakistan, The News Today has learnt.
Postal services between the two countries also suffered amid military standoff along Line of Control (LoC) after India changed the status of State of Jammu and Kashmir in its constitution on August 5. In a knee jerk reaction to India’s drastic move Pakistan suspended trade with India.
Federal ministry of Commerce and Textile on October 3rd, issued a letter No. I (3) / 2018 AC (TP) – India, describing that suspension of trade between India and Pakistan vide statutory regulatory orders (SRO) No. 927 and 928; will not apply to the shipments of documents e.g. personal and business documents, documents of government ministries, diplomatic missions, banks and greeting cards etc.
The said communication was undersigned by a senior official of ministry of commerce, Deputy Director (M&I) Muhammad Naeem Tariq. Talking to The News Today (TNT), he said after receiving the complains and requests by international private courier service companies working in Pakistan, federal government decided to lift the ban on postal and courier service between the two countries.
Interestingly, the government administered institution Pakistan Post was not taken into loop before issuing the direction of lifting ban on postal and courier business between Pakistan and India.
The official communication revealed that commerce ministry using its discretion, took on board private courier service companies including managerial office of customs and regulatory affairs of DHL Pakistan, General Manager office of Gerry International (Pvt) Ltd and some senior officials of ministry of commerce including its additional secretary (II) office and federal secretary of ministry of commerce office.
However, ministry of postal services and Pakistan Postal Service Directorate the main stakeholder of courier and postal services were ignored in taking important decision.
