India-Pakistan Trade Comes to a Near Halt After Conflict

Islamabad: Direct trade between India and Pakistan has been almost zero since the conflict last year. The Attari-Wagah border is closed, Pakistani airspace is closed to Indian airlines, the Indus Waters Treaty has been suspended, and bilateral trade, which had fallen from $2.41 billion in 2018 to $1.22 billion by 2024, is now almost zero. India has reduced imports from Pakistan to almost zero, but Pakistan is still forced to import medicines and pharmaceutical raw materials. Pakistan is still buying about $36 million worth of pharmaceuticals directly from India, while it has indirectly bought about $10 billion worth of medicines through Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. After the Pahalgam terror attack, India closed the Attari border, the only land route for trade between the two countries. On 2 May last year, India issued an order through the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) to completely import goods from Pakistan by 2024. India had already imposed a formal ban on bilateral trade of $1.24 billion.