The traders from both sides of Line of Control want “pre-partition J&K” to be turned into a free economic zone. At a two day conference in the summer capital, they expressed their frustration at the lack of banking and communication facilities which hamper transactions across the border. Besides, the traders once again pitched for the increase of the number of tradable items from the existing 21 items. These are long-time demands but there has so far been little effort by India and Pakistan to address them. There is some hope from July 19 meeting  in Islamabad between the Working Group on Cross-LoC Confidence Building Measures. The meeting which will follow the recent foreign secretary level talks between the two countries will recommend steps “for strengthening and streamlining and effectively implementing the existing trade and travel arrangements and propose modalities for introducing additional cross LoC CBMs”. When it began in October 2008, the cross-LoC trade was considered one of the biggest CBMs on Kashmir between India and Pakistan. But three and a half years down the line, the CBM has been reduced to a mere symbolism. It is more a political gesture than an economic exercise. There has been no effort to enhance the economics of it. The modalities for the trade worked out at the start have hardly been built upon. It continues to be choked by the barter exchange of goods, lack of communication, no banking channels, deficient legal contract enforcement, limit on tradable goods, structural difficulties in free movement and other barriers.  Ironically, while LoC is supposed to be open for trade and travel, it is Wagah which remains closer than Uri for Kashmiris. True, the trade between two Kashmirs is supposed to evolve with time and there is already some movement in this direction. But the fact is that this movement is slow and feeble. At a time when the two countries are working for a deeper economic cooperation with Islamabad deciding to extend Most Favoured Nation status to India, there is a sound rationale to simultaneously enhance the cross-LoC trade.

Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 12 Jul 2012 00:00:00 IST