Why is Pakistan averse to giving India transit rights through to Afghanistan?
Officially, the reason is Kashmir. The issue of transit rights has affected the talks for the gas pipeline from Iran, with India’s request for a highway parallel to the proposed gas pipeline from Iran being repeatedly rejected by Islamabad. Pakistan has linked almost all economic issues, including granting of MFN status to India, to the resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Unofficially, it has to do with Pakistani fears that it would be swamped with Indian imports, and its desire to retain hegemony over trade with Afghanistan. A huge chunk of Afghanistan’s trade is channeled through Pakistani ports like Gwadar and Karachi. ‘We have to induce Pakistan to fall in line’ What are the other differences with Pakistan? Pakistan is wary of the number of Indian consulates in Afghanistan — in Jalalabad, Kandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif. It believes that these missions are being used to foment unrest across the border in Pakistan’s Balochistan and other frontier provinces. Some Pakistani officia
