Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Saturday said that the cross-LoC trade, the people to people CBM between two Kashmirs has become a ‘casualty of indifferences and apathy’.
The order of suspension has been issued without taking intoaccount the difficulties genuine traders would be facing, KCCI alleged.
It said no opportunity has been given to settle accounts andtraders have been left with huge stocks, many of them perishable, which wouldbe of no use. In addition, thousands of persons connected with the trade havebeen rendered jobless and in debt, a spokesperson of the KCCI said in astatement issued here.
“We objected to the defamatory campaign against andsuspension of the Cross LOC Trade. It was unfortunate that the Cross LOC Tradewhich had been introduced as a Trade for Peace and was one of the mostimportant CBM’s agreed to by the top leadership of both the Countries hadbecome a casualty of indifference and apathy,” the spokesperson said.
Over the years, no effective steps were taken to implementvarious suggestions given by stakeholders, he said.
“Demands aimed at bringing transparency to the tradeincluding installation of a Full Body Scanner, Close Circuit TelevisionCamera’s (CCTV’s), Banking Facility, Communication Infrastructure,re-verification of traders, regular rotation of officials posted at TradeFacilitation Centres etc have been ignored,” he said.
“The allegation that businessman Zahoor Ahmed Wattali wasthe president of LOC Traders Association is also unsubstantiated as per ourknowledge. This has allowed the alleged flow of narcotics, fake currency andweapons into the State. In view of the serious nature of the allegations,responsibility needs to be fixed for the glaring lapses,” he added.