"President Lorenzo condemned terrorist act in J-K," says MEA Secy

New Delhi [India], May 3 (ANI): MEA Secretary (Economic Relations) Dammu Ravi, while speaking on the state visit of President of Angola Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco to India said on Saturday that he condemned the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Ravi said that Lourenco affirmed support to India in tackling terrorism.
"During the press briefing, there was a very strong message and also during the delegation level talks, President Lorenzo condemned the heinous cowardly act, terrorist act in in Jammu and Kashmir and there was condemnation of it," he said.
In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, India on Saturday decided to suspend exchange of all categories of all inbound mails and parcels from Pakistan through air and surface routes, a statement by Union Minister for Communications and Development of North Eastern Region, Jyotiradita Scindia said.
The statement by the Ministry of Communications, Department of Posts was also tweeted by India Post.
https://x.com/JM_Scindia/status/1918612063683055936
The suspension follows another ban by the Centre earlier in the day on Pakistani imports. India has imposed an immediate ban on the direct or indirect import and transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, regardless of their import status, effectively halting bilateral trade flows.
The Indian import from Pakistan will come down to zero from the current level of about half a million US dollars between both neighbouring countries, following a fresh ban announced by the Centre, Ajay Srivastava, Founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI), said in a note.
The move comes amid the growing tension between India and Pakistan following the dastardly attack in Pahalgam in which 26 tourists lost their lives.
He expressed condolences to the bereaved families and solidarity with India in tackling terrorism in all its forms, including the cross-border terrorism.
"India's already minuscule imports from Pakistan--barely USD 0.5 million a year--will now drop to zero. No one in India will miss anything except perhaps Himalayan pink salt (Sendha Namak), extracted from salt deposits of Pakistan," Ajay Srivastava, Founder of GTRI, told ANI.
Srivastava said that the move to ban the import from Pakistan is mostly symbolic, as India had already imposed 200 per cent tariffs after the 2019 Pulwama attack. The heavy tariffs post the Pulwama attack reduced imports to around USD 0.42 million between April 2024 and January 2025. (ANI)