Despite tension, cross-LoC trade via Uri, Poonch continues

According to a senior official of the industries and commerce department, 119 truckloads of fresh and dry fruits were traded between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday.

On the day the government of India said it carried out a pre-dawn strike on the “biggest” Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Pakistan, the cross-Line of Control trade between India and Pakistan continued as usual.
According to a senior official of the industries and commerce department, 119 truckloads of fresh and dry fruits were traded between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Tuesday.

   

The cross-LoC trade, which started in 2008, is being done through Salamabad in Uri and Chakan-da-Bagh in Poonch, and has been dubbed as an important confidence building measure (CBM).
Kashmir’s business community hoped to use these routes for transit trade as well as an alternative to the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the only surface link connecting Kashmir with the rest of the world, which closes frequently in winters owing to snowfall and landslides.

According to cross-LoC traders from the Valley, 70 truckloads of fruits, dry fruits and other items were traded between the divided parts of Kashmir.
“35 trucks carry banana, zeera, mirchi seeds, pomegranate, grapes, elachi, embroidery items were exported from this side. From the other side, we received 35 trucks carrying potatoes, embroidery items, kinnows and dry fruits etc.,” said Hilal Turki, chairman, Salamabad- Chakoti traders’ association.

He said the trade was carried out cordially despite escalating tension between the two countries.
On Chakan-da-Bagh in Poonch district, a total of 59 trucks were traded between the two sides.

“From this side, we exported 34 truckloads and from the Pakistan side, 15 truckloads of material, mostly fruit and herbal products, were bartered between the two sides,” Pawan Anand, president, Chakan-Da Bagh traders’ association, said.

He said there was no direction from the government side to stop the trade.
The cross-LoC trade is scheduled for four days a week, from Tuesday to Friday, while the travel is scheduled once a week.

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