Senior Congress leader and the former union minister Prof Saifuddin Soz on Tuesday said that reasons being given to stop Cross-Line of Control (LoC) trade were “highly untenable.”
In a statement Soz alleged, “Since everything is happening at the behest of PMO, stoppingthe cross LoC trade between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad all of a sudden, is seenby the trading communities on both sides, as part of a trickery aimed at theelection-2019. He (PM Modi) thinks this will provide grist to his propagandamill.”
He said, ” I checkedup the reasons given by Central government such as smuggling weapons, narcotics, fake currency and others thingsfor stopping the cross LoC trade with organizations that have firsthandknowledge on what is what on the cross LOC trade. I talked to responsiblefunctionaries of the trade associations, who categorically denied any kind ofmalpractices indulged in by traders. They raised the question why malpractices(if any) were not noticed earlier and action taken.”
Soz said, “In one voice traders said that whenever amalpractice was noticed, the wrong doers were punished, under the law. Theyconfirmed my fear that the alarm had been raised by the PM Modi dispensation only keeping its eyes onelection 2019. These trade associations described GoI’s action as an uncalledfor disruption bringing misery to the trading communities on both sides ofLoC.”