Srinagar, Jan 19: As a mark of protest against government “indifference” towards cross-LoC trade, Valley traders Tuesday curtailed consignments to AJK. Instead of 50 or 60 odd trucks, only 20 mini-trucks rolled down from the Trade Facilitation Centre, Salamabad.
  “Since many traders had to dispatch their goods, we preferred 20 mini-trucks instead of 10 big trucks. The quantity of goods in these mini-trucks, however, is equivalent to that of 10 trucks,” said Hilal Ahmad Turki, spokesperson of the Salamabad-Chakoti Traders’ Association.
  “We stick to what we have decided. We shall dispatch almost the same quantity on Wednesday as well,” he said, adding that they shall suspend the trade from the next week, if their demands were not addressed by the government.
 Meanwhile, 40 truckloads were received from the Chakoti Trade Centre, AJK.
 Pertinently, the traders are demanding amendment in the Standard Operating Producer (SOP) and revocation of ban on various items, including Pakistani moong (green gram), garlic, dates, raisins, ginger and some other items, which, they said, had a good market on both the sides. Turki said the traders had suffered a huge loss of Rs 80 lakh on account of ban on these items.
 To mention, the SOP was signed between two countries on August 21, 2008 in which modalities were fixed and a list of 21 items were approved for trade, where as trade between the two sides kick-started on October 21, 2008.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:00:00 IST