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Nearly 50% Pakistanis favour trade boost with India to normalise ties: Post-Sindoor survey
The Gallup Pakistan survey shows that most of the Pakistanis believe trade could be used to defuse tensions between the two neighbours read more
Nearly half of Pakistanis support boosting trade with India to normalise relations after the ceasefire, a survey, reported by The News, has found.
Tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours escalated earlier this month following a terror attack in India's Jammu and Kashmir on April 22 in which 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists, were massacred.
India, in response, struck terror hideouts in Pakistan. When the Pakistan military tried to attack Indian airbases, the Indian forces launched precision strikes at several Pakistani airbases and dealt significant damage, leading Islamabad to plead for a ceasefire on May 10.
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'Trade key for defusing tensions'
The Gallup Pakistan survey showed that most of the Pakistanis believed trade could be used to defuse tensions between the two neighbours.
However, 35 per cent of Pakistanis are against this idea and believe that all unresolved issues, including Kashmir, should be addressed first.
The survey included several hundred participants from across the country and was conducted between May 12 and 18 this month.
When asked about steps to normalise relations with India, 48 per cent of Pakistanis favoured increasing cooperation in sports, while 35 per cent were against it.
Additionally, 44 per cent supported more cooperation in education, with 36 per cent rejecting this idea. 40 per cent voted for enhancing cultural relations, but 35 per cent opposed this proposal.
In response to the question, 'If you were in 1947, would you have supported separation from India,' 86 per cent said they would have voted for separation, 3 per cent would have been against it, 7 per cent were unsure, and 4 per cent did not provide an opinion.
Pakistan's ailing economy
Pakistan's economy remains on edge and is surviving on bailout programmes backed by several international organisations.
Pakistan's GDP growth for FY 2024-25 fell short of the government's 3.6 per cent target, achieving only 2.68 per cent, as reported by ARY News citing sources from the National Accounts Committee.
The findings were revealed during a committee meeting chaired by the Planning Secretary, according to an ANI report via ARY News.
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People in Pakistan view India as a great potential trading partner, the survey shows. However, New Delhi is unlikely to extend any favour to Islamabad owing to Islamabad's continued support for terrorism and failure to act against militants operating on its soil.
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This move can lead to several different strategies, some as exotic sounding as The Italian Game, Scotch Game and Ruy Lopez. The description I find more suitable is The King's Gambit, since it's more aggressive and can lead to multiple tactical options. The two of them, Pakistan and China, are playing this together. And they have moved a pawn forward. Pakistan is in the front, the pawn, powered by the king and the queen, their cavalry and counsels in the back, read China. They wait for India's move now. Complacency is no plan. The clock is running. The flurry of stories (in the newspapers; you'd never catch us citing any TV channel on this) inform us that now the armed forces have also been following the practice of setting up a 'Red Team,' a group of sharp officers tasked with thinking and responding like the enemy. Think for a moment like your Red Team. What will it do next? Our basic premise is that while we have fretted over our two-front predicament, we never really thought it would come to pass at the same time. In 1962, the Pakistanis stayed out, although not unconditionally. They demanded negotiations on Kashmir which duly began under US-British pressure. And in 1965 and 1971, Kargil and onwards, the Chinese mostly kept away. This first move of the pawn two squares ahead of the king shows this has now changed. Also Read: Asim Munir just stole his 5th star & has nothing to show for it. It'll make him desperate, dangerous A two-front war is on. Except, the Chinese see no need to fight it directly. They have an able and willing proxy in Pakistan. They will keep selling it enough cutting-edge hardware to keep it on a par with India if not ahead in some specific areas, like possibly 5th-generation fighters within a year. Their satellites and other ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) resources will be at their ward's disposal, and real-time advice on tap. That's the reason I had said two weeks ago that the next provocation from Pakistan may not take the usual five-six years. It is likely to come earlier, before the field marshal begins to lose his political capital. Logically, the Red Team will conclude that China no longer has any need to fight India directly. All it needs to do is keep equipping Pakistan adequately to do it on its behalf. If you read any coverage of Operation Sindoor, an important strategic pointer jumps out at you. In the entire series of exchanges, you never heard of any American equipment being used, not even the F-16s. The Swedish SAAB Erieye AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning & Control) aircraft are bristling with Chinese electronics. See it as China versus India, but with the Pakistani military in front. 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