India is thoroughly checking all shipments coming from UAE, Iran and other Gulf countries. Through this, the government wants to ensure that no goods from Pakistan should come to India through any route. The government is also checking the goods coming from the transshipment hub. Apart from this, the officials are also keeping an eye on whether Pakistani goods have come to India through any third country. After the terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April, all types of trade between the two countries are closed. Government officials said that the labels and origin country of the goods imported from UAE and Gulf countries, i.e. where they were produced, are being strictly checked. The Ministry of Commerce and Industry had said in a notification, ‘This ban has been imposed under National Security.’ Pakistani dates coming to India via UAE Even after ending trade relations with Pakistan, Pakistani dates were coming to the country via UAE. India had expressed concern about this to UAE. An official associated with the government said that this is a misuse of the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. UAE is India’s largest date exporter. India exported goods worth $36.63 billion (?1.14 lakh crore) to UAE in FY25. While imports totaled $63.42 billion (?5.43 lakh crore). During April-February of FY25, India’s date imports stood at $270.4 million (?2,315 crore), with UAE contributing $123.82 million (?1,060 crore). India had increased import duty to 200% after Pulwama attack. India-Pakistan trade relations deteriorated after the Pulwama terror attack in 2019. After this, India increased the import duty on all goods imported from the neighboring country to 200%. This includes fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ores. Earlier, in 2017-18, Pakistan’s exports to India were $488.5 million. At that time, the two main commodities imported from Pakistan were fruits and cement. Imposing 200 percent import duty means virtually banning the imports. India had carried out airstrikes on 9 terrorist bases in Pakistan. 15 days after the Pahalgam attack, India had carried out airstrikes on 9 terrorist bases in 7 cities of Pakistan at around 1 AM on 7 May. More than 100 terrorists were killed in this. This strike on Pakistan, carried out by the three armies together, was given the name ‘Operation Sindoor’. Due to this action of India, Pakistan had announced to stop all kinds of trade.
