KARACHI: Commerce Minister Fazlur Rahman on Monday [Jan 16] charged India of throttling inter-Dominion trade by introducing `political caprices and extra-commercial whims` in trade matters. Trade would again begin to flow freely if India recognised the value of Pakistan rupee, he said.

Mr Fazlur Rahman was speaking in the Pakistan Parliament ... on Mr K C. Neogy`s statement in the Indian Parliament. Mr Neogy had alleged that Pakistan was not `serious about implementing the interDominion trade agreement`. ...

...Mr Fazlur Rahman refuted ... charges made by the Indian Commerce Minister, showing that India had persistently tried to choke inter-Dominion trade while Pakistan `is and always has been` most anxious to give and take commodities. To the charge that Pakistan had taken measures to restrict import of cotton textiles from India, [he] said: `The opposite is the case.

Before June 1949 India ... had imposed `stringent conditions` on the export of millmade cloth. During the negotiations of the current trade agreement they had asked for `nothing` better than an opportunity to sell on `competitive basis`, which Pakistan never denied them. Staff correspondent