Cross-LoC trade starts today

But modalities of facilitating trade remain vague.

On Tuesday, for the first time in almost 60 years, two convoys of vehicles traversing the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road will cross the Aman Setu at the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir. It will symbolise the resumption of trade ties between the Kashmir Valley and the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

The trading posts — Salamabad near Uri in Kashmir and Chakothi, two km inside PoK — are set to receive their first consignments. The traded items on the first day will include apples, dry fruit and handicrafts from Kashmir and rice and dry fruit from PoK.

It is estimated that transactions up to Rs 8 lakh would take place. “We are ready to receive the first load carriers that will arrive from the PoK. The containment facility at Salamabad has been constructed in just one and a half months,” said Nisar Ahmed, an engineer in charge of building Salamabad Trade Centre. A visiting delegation from the PoK had earlier confirmed that their facilities were ready too.

The crossing of the LoC is expected to follow the same modalities as the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service, but with a difference — vehicles from each side will actually cross the Aman Setu. The bus passengers walk across to board a different vehicle after crossing the bridge.

The respective cargo vehicle drivers would be given temporary passes and escorted in convoys to the trading centres at Salamabad and Chakothi. The drivers will be confined to the trading centres and will wait while the unloading and loading is complete.

But the reaction in the Valley to what could be a historic moment in ties across the LoC has been largely muted. The reality is far from the objective of linking Kashmir to markets in Central Asia.

The state’s trade federations have said confusion over basic issues such as currency usage, communication between the two sets of traders, lists of traded items and the logistics of transport and travel papers has meant that the effort might remain only symbolic.

“We don’t know what currency we have to deal in. For the first few days we will be using a barter system where we fix the worth of the goods based on the exchange rate between the Indian and Pakistani rupee. Then the deliveries will be done,” said Mubeen Shah, president, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI).

“We have met the government. Considering how volatile the market is now, we want to trade in a risk-free currency,” said A M Shirazi, president Chambers of Commerce and Industries Kashmir (CCIK), while pointing to the fluctuating Pakistani rupee.

According to the traders, the fact that one can’t make calls from Kashmir to PoK has hampered efforts to place orders. Initially, the KCCI would assist by preparing the bills in its own name in the absence of proper buyer information. “We are non-profit organisation. We won’t be doing this forever,” said Shah. Though a delegation of PoK had come, Shah said they were not representing buyers and the Indian delegation has not been given permission by the government to travel to PoK.

Though the government has maintained that the Indian delegation must be one, the three rival trade federations in Kashmir — KCCI, CCIK and Federation Chamber of Industry Kashmir (FCIK) —want independent representation.

In spite of the political clamour to open the LoC for business, the traders are jittery about the prices that they will get in PoK because of the economic turmoil in Pakistan, including the high inflation prevailing there. “We have no idea how much our apples will fetch there. But we are sure it will be much lower than what we get from consignments to the rest of India,” said Sajaad Khan, an apple farmer in Baramulla district, one of Kashmir’s biggest apple growing regions.