Srinagar, Jul 15: Non settlement of transactions worth hundreds of crores of rupees caused due to the abrupt and indefinite suspension of cross-LoC trade is giving sleepless nights to traders involved in the commerce between two divided parts of Kashmir besides having thrown scores of laborers and truckers out of work.
“We are in a depressing situation as our goods worth hundreds of crores of rupees remain unsettled with our counterparts in Pakistan-administered-Kashmir. The abrupt and indefinite suspension of the cross-LoC trade has crippled us. We should have been given a prior notice of at least 15 days to settle the amounts in transit from across the LoC,” Sami Ullah, vice-president of Salamabad Cross-Loc Traders Association told this newspaper.
Initiated as a political initiative, cross-LoC trade was an imaginative confidence building step taken by India and Pakistan in 2008 but without a business model. Despite being conducted on barter terms, trade volumes showed a steady increase over the years.
Suspended indefinitely by the Government of India on 18th of April this year citing its “misuse”, the trade lacked critical infrastructure (like truck scanners), communication channels, financing system and a legal procedure for enforcement of contracts.
Despite being limited in number of days and tradable goods, the trade volume in this primitive barter buying and selling system had remained encouragingly on the rise since in its inception. Goods worth rupees 7087.591 crores were traded in and out by the cross-LoC merchants over the period.
Initially 600 traders from Kashmir were registered with the trade, however due to the much pestering requirements for documentation and paper-work, the number of traders had later reduced to 229, said Sami Ullah.
The indefinite suspension of the cross-LoC trade has lead to a crisis-like situation among the truckers and the laborers associated with it, he said. Hundreds of drivers from different parts of India who would ferry goods for us to Kashmir have also been affected, he added.
Ashiq Hussain, a trucker from Parimpora Srinagar would earn Rs 20,000 to 30,000 a month by carrying goods for traders to Pakistan-administered-Kashmir. “The suspension of trade has virtually snatched me of a regular income that sustained my family including my elderly parents,” said Hussain.
Because of an uncertain situation frequented by government restrictions and separatist-sponsored strikes, the transport sector in Kashmir is at a receiving end, he said adding that a number of the fellow truckers associated with cross-LoC trade have sold out their trucks as they were unable pay off loan installments to their financiers.
The opening up of the trade route of Kashmir 11 years ago had given rise to new employment opportunities in the conflict-battered state, especially its border area of the Uri. Prior to it, people in this hilly area had largely been dependent on government service or the odd porter jobs in the Army.
Almost 400 young men engaged as laborers have virtually been divested of their livelihood by the indefinite suspension of the cross-LoC trade.
Thirty-two year Mohammed Latif Awan lost his paddy land in lieu of a “small” compensation for the state-owned Trade Facilitation Center at Salamabad Uri. To make his ends meet, he got registered as a laborer in the center helping off-load goods for the traders. “With the unexpected derailment of the trade my family is starving,” he said.
