Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
Pakistan on Monday dismissed reports that Islamabad has expressed readiness to talk on restoring the India-Afghanistan trade route through its territory.
"Pakistan has not agreed to consider Afghanistan-India trade through our land," country's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quoted as saying by Foreign Office on Sunday.
The rejection came after US Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass said that Pakistan was considering resumption of India-Afghanistan trade via its territory, as per a report by Express Tribune.
"Pakistan had already approached Afghanistan earlier this year and indicated its willingness to resume trade between Afghanistan and India through its land," Bass had said in an interview to an Indian daily last week.
The Express Tribune called the revelation "significant" as according to it Pakistan "did not allow Indian goods to be transported through its territory into Afghanistan".
(With IANS inputs)
