Chief Minister of Pakistan Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, recently underscored the need for greater cooperation between both Punjabs to counter the challenge of smog. Earlier this year, while speaking to Sikh pilgrims from India at Kartarpur Sahib, she had underscored the importance of ‘Punjabiyat’. The Punjabs on both sides have played an important role in people-to-people, cultural as well as economic linkages between both countries. Since 2019, when trade links between India and Pakistan, via the Wagah-Attari land crossing, were discontinued, there have been significant job losses resulting in a major setback to the border districts of Punjab (India). Maryam Nawaz’s remarks have raised hopes of resumption of engagement – albeit incremental – between both countries via the Punjabs.
While speaking at Diwali Celebrations held in Lahore the capital of Pakistan Punjab, on October 30, 2024, the Chief Minister of Pakistan Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif underscored the need for greater cooperation between both Punjabs to counter the challenge of smog. Maryam Nawaz said: “winds do not recognise boundaries” and that both Punjabs – Indian and Pakistani – needed to work together to deal with this challenge. She also said that she would write to the Chief Minister of Punjab (India) Bhagwant Mann asking for a “coordinated response” to deal with this problem.
Earlier this year, while speaking to Sikh pilgrims from India at Kartarpur Sahib (Narowal, Pakistan), she had pitched for better ties between both countries. Also, she underscored the importance of ‘Punjabiyat’ – a common Punjabi identity – as a key bridge between both countries. Said Maryam Nawaz, who happens to be the first woman CM of Punjab (Pakistan): “We wish to speak Punjabi here like the people of Indian Punjab. My grandfather, Mian Sharif, is from Jati Umra, Amritsar. When a Punjabi Indian brought soil of Jati Umra, I placed it on his (grandfather’s) grave,”
Maryam Nawaz’s remarks regarding potential cooperation between both Punjabs come days after former PM of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, pitched for the resumption of economic and people-to-people ties between India and Pakistan.
Maryam Nawaz’s remarks regarding potential cooperation between both Punjabs come days after former PM and President of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), Nawaz Sharif pitched for the resumption of economic and people-to-people ties between India and Pakistan during his interaction with a delegation of Indian journalists in Lahore – who had gone to cover the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Islamabad. Sharif has always been a fervent advocate of economic relations between both countries. While speaking to the delegation, Sharif said: “..Why should Indian and Pakistani farmers and manufacturers go outside to sell their products? Goods now go from Amritsar to Lahore via Dubai — what are we doing, who is benefitting from this? What should take two hours now takes two weeks,“
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While it is too early to think about the reduction of tensions between both countries, the visit of External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar to Islamabad and his conversation, on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, with Pakistan’s Deputy PM and Foreign Minister, Muhammad Ishaq Dar has caused many analysts and journalists to point to the possibility of resumption of cricketing ties between both countries. Nevertheless, the Ministry of External Affairs (Government of India) has categorically dismissed speculations about Jaishankar’s conversations with Dar having any specific agenda.
India-Pakistan relationship and the two Punjabs
Any reduction of tensions between the two countries has always been welcomed by both the Punjabs—especially the Indian side. The only major initiative taken between both countries after Islamabad suspended economic and diplomatic ties with India was the Kartarpur Religious Corridor, inaugurated in November 2019 (India and Pakistan recently extended the Kartarpur Sahib agreement for a period of five years).
Even earlier, in the mid-2000’s and later in the 2012-2015 phase, the Punjabs on both sides played an important role in people-to-people, cultural as well as economic linkages between both countries. While speaking at the inauguration of the Amritsar-Nankana Sahib bus service in March 2006 (the bus service was also discontinued in 2019), the then PM Dr Manmohan Singh, highlighting the role of Punjabs, said: “..There are many things that the two Punjabs can learn from each other’s development experience. We must encourage people-to-people contacts between actors in civil society, between academics, businessmen, artists, and most importantly, the common people… Cities like Lahore and Amritsar should once again become throbbing international commercial centers serving the entire region”.
The Indian state of Punjab is facing serious economic challenges. A less strained relationship between India and Pakistan and the resumption of trade via the Wagah-Attari land-crossing would provide a major fillip to the state’s economy by opening up new horizons for the state’s farmers as well as the business community.
In 2012, the first Integrated Check Post (ICP) was set up at Attari (near Amritsar) to give a fillip to trade between both countries via the Wagah (Pakistan)-Attari (India) land route. While trade between India and Pakistan via the Wagah-Attari land route was way below its potential, it gave a strong fillip to the tertiary sector of the border belt of Punjab (India). Since 2019, when trade links between India and Pakistan, via the Wagah-Attari land crossing, were discontinued, there have been significant job losses resulting in a major setback to the border districts of Punjab (India) – Amritsar, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran.
Also Read: Navigating Strained Ties: Punjab’s Influence on India-Pakistan Trade Resumption
It is in this context that Maryam Nawaz’s remarks gain importance. They have raised hopes of resumption of engagement – albeit incremental – between both countries via the Punjabs.
In conclusion, the India-Pakistan relationship has steadily deteriorated in the past decade and some of the recent developments discussed earlier in this article are encouraging. The Indian state of Punjab, which gets attention from large sections of India’s strategic community as well as mainstream media largely from a security perspective, is facing serious economic challenges. A less strained relationship between India and Pakistan and the resumption of trade via the Wagah-Attari land-crossing would provide a major fillip to the state’s economy by opening up new horizons for the state’s farmers as well as the business community.
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