Pakistan is still recovering from a series of devastating floods that occurred in August. The floods destroyed large swaths of the South-Asian nation and has contributed to food insecurity in the country. To alleviate the situation, Pakistan is looking to import more vegetables. This is hardly surprising, but what is a bit surprising is the source of those vegetables.

According to the now-former Finance Minister, Miftah Ismail, Pakistan is considering importing vegetables from India, its arch-rival. Food prices have risen significantly in the predominantly Muslim nation of over 240 million people. India and Pakistan have had a complex and often adversarial history since their partition and independence in 1947. Relations between the two have been particularly tense since the election of Narendra Modi, leader of the Hindu nationalist BJP, in 2014.

Pakistani floods

"We can consider importing vegetables from India," Ismail told local television in August, before adding that Turkey and Iran are also options. Unprecedented flash floods caused by historic monsoon rains caused widespread damage, affecting more than 33 million people. Monsoon rains and floods such as these are likely to increase in frequency, according to numerous climate change models.

That Pakistan is looking to India for help demonstrates just how bad the situation is. Millions of acres of farmland were flooded by weeks of continuous rain. This, plus global food insecurity caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and drought in other parts of the world, caused the prices of basic goods to surge. Onions, tomatoes, and chickpeas in particular have seen sharp increases in price as the normally bountiful breadbasket provinces of Sindh and Punjab struggle to produce the crops they once did.

Potential for trade

While the floods have been a disaster, they could spark renewed interest in trade between the two highly populous South-Asian nations. Pakistan formally downgraded its trade relations with India in August 2019. Pakistan now places India on the same level as Israel, a country with which Pakistan has no trade ties at all.

The Pakistani government did this in response to India’s decision to revoke Article 370 of its constitution which granted occupied Kashmir special status. The Kashmiri region is the source of land disputes between India and Pakistan (and also China). Before partition, the region had a Muslim majority. Muslims in Kashmir, and across India, have been subjected to violence at disturbingly high levels in recent years.

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