India­Pakistan relations have always been viewed through the prism of Kashmir. But, as noted security expert C. Raja Mohan argued, the opening of the Kartarpur corridor has unlocked the possibility of looking at bilateral relations through the prism of Punjab and the idea of punjabiyat. While some believe that Pakistan’s interest in opening this religious corridor is to revive the Khalistan movement, others look at this as a harbinger of normal relations between the countries. In this regard, it is worth considering whether Punjab can be made central to the India­Pakistan relationship by opening new trade corridors or fortifying existing trade routes running through Punjab. These trade corridors or routes could be developed with an aim to foster a free trade area that brings closer the two Punjabs. As lawyer Raj Bhala argues, such a free trade area could allow absolute free trade in those agricultural and industrial goods and services that originate in either of the Punjabs. This would allow agricultural products originating in Indian Punjab to get preferential market access in Pakistan, thus benefiting the farmers of Punjab. It would also amplify the size of the markets for producers and consumers of Punjab

from Chandigarh to Lahore. Such an FTA can be drafted, thanks to Article XXIV.11 of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), specially created for India and Pakistan. The Article allows the World Trade Organization (WTO) member countries to enter a customs union(CU) or enter into an FTA subject to the following conditions. First, the countries need to eliminate barriers to “substantially all” trade between them. Second, the countries need to ensure that their tariff barriers vis­à­vis third countries are not “on the whole higher or more restrictive” than what they were before the CU or FTA came into existence. While the Article’s obligations apply to all trade agreements in goods entered into by all WTO member countries, paragraph 11 of the article exempts the application of these requirements to a trade deal that India and Pakistan may enter into.

Answer the following questions from the above passage-

Q1. What was Pakistan's interest in opening this religious corridor? 

Q2. What could be the aim of opening these trade corridors or routes? 

Q3. Why such a free trade area could allow absolute free trade in those agricultural and industrial goods and services that originate in either of Punjab? 

Q4. What are the two conditions of Article XXIV?11 that allows WTO member countries to enter a Customs Union (CU) or enter into FTA? 

Q5. What was in paragraph 11 of the Article?