Many parliamentarians have seconded the business leaders’ advice to resume trade ties with the neighbouring country India and mend ties with incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan.

“They [the business community] are an asset to our country and their suggestions carry weight. They should be taken seriously, considering their experience,” independent lawmaker Faisal Vawda told Aaj News on Thursday.

Arif Habib, the chief of Arif Habib Group, suggested Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his visit to Karachi to take the initiative as the head of the government.

While appreciating the premier’s reconciliation efforts, Habib urged him to do a “few more handshakes”, including trade with India and patching up with a resident of Adiala Jail (a reference to jailed PTI leader Imran Khan).

The businessman was of the view that such developments would improve the economy and political stability. But the premier at the meeting avoided responding directly to the questions and claimed to have noted down his proposals for economic growth.

Pakistan downgraded diplomatic relations with India and suspended all bilateral trade in August 2019, when the Narendra Modi-led government revoked occupied Kashmir’s special status, granted in its law, by repealing Article 370 of its constitution.

Khan is serving a prison sentence in the cypher case while many cases are registered against him. His party lawmakers have demanded his release.

Vawda said that he has been supporting such statements, which were also given when he was part of Khan’s political party. Giving suggestions was a “good thing”, he added.

PPP leader Sharmila Farooqui was of the view that the resumption of trade ties with India would benefit Pakistan but stressed the need for seeing what Parliament says.

She called for peace in the region, whether it includes Iran, Afghanistan, or India.

One of the lawmakers cited the country’s foreign policy while saying that the country should have brotherly relations with neighbouring countries, including Muslim states.

Another lawmaker also agreed with improved relations with neighbours but highlighted that they could not be better until India revokes its decision to end occupied Kashmir’s special status given in the Indian constitution.

A woman said that peace was a better option to lead the country, adding that those who gave the suggestion stated it after some thought.

“Positive dialogue” should be held with everyone, a religiopolitical party lawmaker said and added that it would bring all political parties on one page.

The PTI should make the effort and improve its conduct in Parliament, a lawmaker said, citing that matters would not be resolved if MPs keep on fighting with each other.

Last week, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also spoke on the same wavelength.

“Don’t fight wars with neighbours and open the doors of friendship and open the doors of your hearts and countries,” she quoted her father Nawaz Sharif during her visit to Kartarpur Gurudwara on Baisakhi festival.

“People in Punjab, whether they are from Pakistan or in India, saw that a daughter of India’s Punjab and Pakistan’s Punjab has become the mukhya mantri (CM), they celebrated,” she added.

Indian Sikh pilgrims were also among the gathering to whom she was addressing.

Faran Jeffery, the deputy director of the UK-based think tank Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism, said on social media platform X that “Pakistan’s problem is that it bit off more than it could chew. It has got stuck in its own trap that it originally set for India.”

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On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Special Representative on Afghanistan Ambassador Asif Durrani told a conference that the former has suffered more due to the latter’s internal situation than its three wars with India.

Ambassador Durrani said that over 80,000 Pakistanis died during the past two decades of the War on Terror, saying that the country was still counting its dead and injured.

When asked about the resumption of ties with India in London, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that the trade situation and economic activities with India “require consultation”.