ISLAMABAD: India on Tuesday used the SAARC Finance Ministers' meeting to deliver a sharp rebuke to Pakistan for refusing to extend the regional free trade agreement to it, and made a veiled criticism of Islamabad for not doing enough to curb terrorism.

Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal said in his statement to the conference, called to discuss the setting up of a SAARC Development Fund, that India was "surprised" Pakistan would continue to trade with it under an existing positive list even after the coming into effect of the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement.

Against essence

"We regard this action as going against the very essence of SAFTA. SAFTA operates on the basis of the agreed `sensitive lists'. SAFTA has little operational meaning if commitments are not honoured in letter and spirit. The credibility of the participating member-countries and SAFTA itself will be seriously questioned if additional conditionalities are introduced that were neither discussed nor agreed when SAFTA was being negotiated," he said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz talked about the need to resolve "all outstanding issues including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir" and to find a just settlement of the issues in accordance "with the wishes of the people of Kashmir".

Mr. Bansal said there could be no economic progress without peace. He recalled the strong condemnation of terrorism in the 2005 Dhaka summit declaration and renewed commitment of all member-states to eliminate the menace. "There can be no double standards in tackling this challenge," he said.

The Minister said India had asked for an "urgent" meeting of the SAFTA ministerial council to resolve Pakistan's refusal to extend SAFTA benefits to it.

He said a proper implementation of SAFTA would boost regional trade and "catalyse" other areas of regional economic integration.

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