KUALA LUMPUR • Pakistan will do its best to buy more palm oil from Malaysia after top buyer India put curbs on such imports last month amid a diplomatic row with the South-east Asian nation, Prime Minister Imran Khan said yesterday.
India has placed general restrictions on refined palm oil imports and informally asked traders to stop buying from Malaysia, the world's second-biggest producer and exporter of the edible oil, in retaliation for Malaysia's accusation that recent Indian policies discriminate against Muslims.
India is a Hindu-majority country while Malaysia and Pakistan are mainly Muslim. India and Pakistan have been mostly hostile to each other since the partition of British India in 1947, and have fought two of their three wars over competing territorial claims in Kashmir.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he discussed palm oil with Mr Khan - in Malaysia on a state visit - and added that Pakistan had indicated it would import more from Malaysia.
"That's right, especially since we noticed India threatened Malaysia for supporting the Kashmir cause, threatened to cut palm oil imports," Mr Khan told a joint news conference, referring to India's Muslim-majority region of Kashmir. "Pakistan will do its best to compensate for that," he said.
Pakistan bought 1.1 million tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia last year, while India bought 4.4 million tonnes, according to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council.
India has repeatedly objected to Tun Dr Mahathir speaking out against its move last year to strip Kashmir of its autonomy and make it easier for non-Muslims from neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to gain citizenship.
In the news conference, Dr Mahathir did not refer to Kashmir but Mr Khan did. "The way you, PM, have stood with us and spoken about this injustice going on, on behalf of Pakistan, I really want to thank you," Mr Khan said.
The former cricketer said he was sad he could not attend a summit of Muslim leaders in Malaysia in December. Malaysia had said the summit was held to improve the lives of Muslims and overcome Islamophobia.
But the event was held outside the ambit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and Saudi Arabia - a close ally of Pakistan - said the gathering was "dividing" the Islamic world and it was the wrong forum for matters of importance to the world's 1.75 billion Muslims. Saudi King Salman had also reaffirmed that such issues should be discussed through the OIC during a call with Dr Mahathir.
Some Pakistani officials had told the media at the time that Mr Khan pulled out under pressure from Saudi Arabia. Local media, however, reported that his officials denied that was the reason for Mr Khan's absence.
"Unfortunately our friends, who are very close to Pakistan as well, felt that somehow the conference was going to divide the ummah," Mr Khan said, using the Arabic word for the Muslim community but not mentioning Saudi Arabia by name.
"It's is clearly a misconception, as that was not the purpose of the conference," he added.
Mr Khan also said Malaysia and Pakistan were working on a joint media project to broadcast a positive image of Islam, fight Islamophobia and develop content for young Muslims.
REUTERS
