PM Modi''s meet to review MFN status to Pak postponed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 29

The meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan has been postponed till next week.

"The meeting regarding MFN and related logistics scheduled for today is postponed to next week," official sources said here.

Meanwhile, amidst heightened tension with Pakistan, the Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to review the situation along the LoC today.

The meeting is understood to have discussed various options related to the Line of Control (LoC) in the wake of the Uri attack.

The meeting is also understood to have taken stock of ceasefire violations and infiltration attempts.

Pakistani troops have also twice violated the ceasefire along the LoC since Wednesday. Pakistani troops on Thursday violated the ceasefire along the LoC in Nawgam sector of Kashmir by opening indiscriminate fire towards Indian Army posts.

Pakistani troops had on Wednesday targeted Indian positions with small firearms along the LoC in Poonch district.

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The decision to review the MFN, which was granted by India unilaterally in 1996, was taken in the wake of the Uri attack over which India is weighing options to respond.

The MFN status was accorded in 1996 under WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this which means they have to treat each other and rest of WTO member countries as favoured trading partners.

According to Assocham, out of India's total merchandise trade of US$ 641 billion in 2015-16, Pakistan accounted for a meagre US$ 2.67 billion.

India's exports to the neighbouring country worked out to US$ 2.17 billion, or 0.83 per cent, of the total Indian outward shipments while imports were less than US$ 500 million, or 0.13 per cent, of the total inward shipments. — With PTI inputs