New Delhi, May 3 (UNI) In a slew of rapid punitive measures against Islamabad, India has suspended all postal linkages with Pakistan, banned the direct or indirect import of goods from that country, and banned Pakistani-flagged ships from entering Indian ports and vice versa.
The measures come as part of India’s retaliatory steps against Pakistan, in the aftermath of the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam of Jammu and Kashmir in which Islamist gunmen brutally shot dead 26 people, mostly tourists.
The Ministry of Communications, Department of Posts, in a notification issued today, said the Government of India has “decided to suspend exchange of all categories of inbound mail and parcels from Pakistan through air and surface routes”.
Earlier, the Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai, issued a directive under the Merchant Shipping Act, banning Pakistani-flagged ships from entering Indian ports and prohibited Indian-flagged vessels from visiting ports in Pakistan.
The restrictions are effective immediately.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, in a notification issued on Friday, “prohibited the import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan”, with immediate effect.
India has already shut the Attari land crossing, which is the sole trade route between the two countries, in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack.
The measures are the latest by New Delhi to crack down on Islamabad following the Pahalgam terrorist attack, which has led to embittering of relations between the two sides.
India has taken several measures to hit back at Pakistan, including suspending the Indus Waters Treaty, closing the Attari border, telling all Pakistani nationals to leave, thinning the staff at the Pakistan HC and its own in Islamabad, and vowed to pursue the perpetrators and planners of the attack to the ends of the earth.
UNI RN