(SeafoodSource) Pakistan continues to face the European Union’s (EU) ban on its seafood export largely for global political reasons, as concerned officials and fishermen believe the continuous ban is more to do with the Nato’s military failure in Afghanistan against the Taliban insurgents in the ongoing war on terror rather than the hygiene concerns.
The EU is using the ban as pressure tool to subdue Pakistan for its military gains in the war on terror, despite the country’s fisheries sector is greatly developed in the entire region, the fisheries officials told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
The EU ban has entered the sixth year without any progress whether or not the country would be able to export its fisheries products to the union's bloc of 27 countries, officials said, adding that “the ban has inflicted at least $300 million loss on Pakistan's national exchequer since April, 18 2006.”
“Pakistan’s largest fish harbor of Karachi is more developed in terms of infrastructure, boats, processing units and auction halls in the entire region even than that of India,” Managing Director, Karachi Fish Harbour Authority (KFHA), Abdul Ghani Jokhio, told Business Recorder.