ISLAMABAD - Former interior minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms Senator Rehman Malik on Thursday welcomed and thanked the federal cabinet for rejecting the Economic Coordination Council’s (ECC) proposal to lift ban on sugar and cotton imports from India.

Rehman Malik said that it was good that government quickly realised the public sentiments and reaction over the Wednesday’s decision. 

He said if the government had not reversed its decision in time, it would have been detrimental to the Kashmir cause in the near future. 

Soon after the government announcement of lifting the ban on sugar import from India, Rehman Malik had announced that he would not use sugar in any form as a protest against government’s decision of its import from India for two months. He had also appealed to every Pakistani to stop using sugar and its products as a protest against the decision of lifting ban on sugar import from India. 

Rehman Malik said that he was glad that the people of Pakistan not only responded to his appeal but also appreciated and showed a resolve that they would not consume sugar unless government revoked its decision. He said that he was fully supported on social media and his appeal was well spread by various websites and TV channels including newspapers.

The former interior minister said that the decision of importing sugar from India had hurt Kashmiris and Pakistanis. He thanked the cabinet and the Prime Minister for withdrawing the decision to import sugar from India adding that a good message was conveyed to Kashmiri brothers and sisters who were under cruel curfew of Indian PM Narendra Modi in Indian Illegally Occupied Kashmir.