Pakistan's security establishment supports the civilian government's efforts to normalise trade relations with India as it believes the move will boost the country's economy and help create grounds for resolving political disputes between the two nations, security officials said.

The Pakistan army supports trade with India because all stakeholders in the country “have been taken on board and the chambers (of commerce) want it,” the security officials said during an interaction with Indian journalists.

“The army fully supports trade because it will boost our economy,” one official said.

The security establishment backs the decision to normalise trade relations because it was made by a civilian government that is a coalition of various parties which have all supported the move, said the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The security officials indicated that since political disputes between India and Pakistan can neither be put in cold storage nor resolved overnight, the two countries need to forge “some mechanism” that showed to the people that they are working to address the outstanding issues.

“Trade may not be the alternative but it shows that the two sides are talking and taking some tangible steps. Unless something is seen to be happening, non—state actors will get fuel to add to their propaganda that both governments are not doing anything. We need to keep talking,” one official said.

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