India slaps ban on Pak imports, suspends shipping, postal links

On a day when Pakistan’s military tested a surface-to-surface ballistic missile weapons system with a range of 450 km, India slapped a blanket ban on all goods originating from and transiting through Pakistan.

The government also suspended shipping and postal service links with Pakistan as tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours rose in the aftermath of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in south Kashmir in which 25 tourists and a local were killed. The government said ships bearing Pakistani flags will not be allowed to enter Indian ports and Indian-flagged ships will not visit Pakistani ports. All postal services between India and Pakistan have also been suspended.

The import ban order, issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, was implemented with immediate effect. It is expected to further hit Pakistan’s already-strained export sector. The developments came even as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top sources described Pakistan’s missile test as a “reckless act of provocation”.

The import ban notification, meanwhile, said, “All direct or indirect import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, whether or not freely importable or otherwise permitted, shall be prohibited with immediate effect until further orders.”

The government said the restriction had been imposed in the interest of national security and public policy and any exception to it would require official approval. The Foreign Trade Policy-2023 has been amended for the import ban to take effect.

The bilateral trade between India and Pakistan mainly takes place under the agreement of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). After the 2019 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel, India levied 200 per cent duty on products originating in and exported from Pakistan. In August 2019, bilateral trade with India was completely suspended by Pakistan, which subsequently allowed partial relaxations for import of certain pharmaceutical products from India.

The Pakistan Commerce Ministry website lists main items of export from India to Pakistan as cotton, organic chemicals, food products, including prepared animal fodder, vegetables, plastic articles, man-made filament, coffee, tea, spices, dyes, oil seeds, dairy products and pharmaceuticals. It lists main items of import by India from Pakistan as copper and copper articles, fruits and nuts, cotton, salt, sulphur and earths and stones, organic chemicals, mineral fuels, plastic products, wool, glassware, raw hides and skin. Pink salt is the main product imported by India from Pakistani.

The overall Indian imports from Pakistan stood at USD 0.5 million in 2025 as against USD 2.88 million the year before. Pakistan, however, depends on Indian exports and may continue to procure these from third nations to circumvent the existing trade ban.

The ban on Pakistani ships was imposed by the Directorate General of Shipping, Mumbai, exercising powers under Section 411 of the Merchant Shipping Act-1958. Section 411 empowers the government to issue directions to ships for meeting the objectives of national interest or the interest of Indian shipping.

Postal links with Pakistan were earlier snapped after the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. However, these had resumed after three months. Today’s measures follow in a series of other retaliatory actions India has taken against Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack. The government on April 23 suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty and cancelled visas of Pakistanis living in India. Subsequently, it closed the Indian airspace for Pakistan carriers.