Pulwama attack: India withdraws 'Most Favored Nation' status to Pakistan
In the wake of the horrifying Pulwama terror attack, India withdrew its 'Most Favored Nation' status to Pakistan on Friday. The decision was taken at the CCS meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence. NSA Ajit Doval, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, and Arun Jaitley also attended the meeting to take stock of the situation. Here's more.
On Thursday, Pakistan based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, J&K. A suicide car bomber rammed into a bus and nearly 40 soldiers lost their lives. The attack was duly condemned by everyone in India and other nations as well.
Pakistan was granted MFN status in 1996, which ensured it wasn't at a disadvantageous situation as compared to other trading partners of India. Due to this status, India charged the lowest trade tariffs from Pakistan and put minimum barriers. Notably, it was a one-sided deal as Pakistan hadn't extended the MFN status to India, citing lack of trust and border conflict.
Fuming after the attack, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had asked his government to withdraw the MFN status. The senior leader said his party was capable of "re-tooling itself and smashing Pakistan". During a TV debate, Swamy also spoke about reconsidering the Indus Water treaty and said it was time to act. Notably, he added BJP had failed Kashmir in various ways.
During the inauguration of Vande Bharat Express, PM Modi slammed Pakistan in strong words. He said the neighboring country shouldn't assume it can hatch plans to destabilize India and get away. "The terrorists and their leaders have committed a big mistake and will have to pay for it," he added. He went on to thank other nations for supporting India during this time.
On Pakistan, PM Modi said the neighboring country will never succeed in its notorious plans. He reminded Pakistan that its position in the globe isn't a very good one, and it should stop such tactics. PM Modi also said politicians shouldn't be divided on this issue. He said differences should be kept aside and people should join hands to fight terrorism.
#WATCH PM Narendra Modi pays tribute to CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in #PulwamaTerrorAttack, says, "logon ka khoon khaul raha hai, yeh main samajh raha hun. Humare suraksha balon ko purn swatantra de di gayi hai." pic.twitter.com/kxdCIKe88q
— ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019
After the attack, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) slammed Pakistan for giving full freedom to terrorist organizations which carry out such attacks. It also called on the international community to designate Masood Azhar, JeM's chief as a terrorist. But Pakistan washed its hands off it was not involved. In a statement, the country claimed it always took a strong stance against terrorism.
