AJK traders protest Indian decision to suspend barter trade

MUZAFFARABAD: A large number of traders staged a demonstration on Monday in protest against India’s unilateral decision to suspend barter trade across the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir and demanded its immediate resumption.

The protesters assembled outside the local press club from where they marched towards the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan near Domel, the confluence of the Neelum and Jhelum rivers, while chanting slogans.

“Let the trade continue, let the poor [traders] make ends meet,” they shouted.

The protesters were also holding a banner and several placards, reflecting their stance and demands about the activity.

The suspension of intra-Kashmir trade from both Chakothi-Uri and Tetrinote-Chakan da Bagh crossing points was announced by India in a unilateral move on April 18, citing alleged misuse of these routes by Pakistan-based elements.

Read: India unilaterally suspends intra-Kashmir trade

“… The misuse involves inflows of illegal weapons, narcotics and currency. The LoC trade mechanism is therefore being suspended pending the putting into place of a stricter regulatory regime. This is to ensure that only bona fide trade takes place for the benefit of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, through this mechanism,” India’s Ministry of Home Affairs had stated in a ‘most immediate’ notification.

In its reaction on April 21, the Foreign Office of Pakistan had said that the suspension of the trade on the basis of groundless accusations and without consulting Islamabad was “deeply regrettable”.

In Muzaffarabad, the protesting traders condemned the Indian move and called upon the United Nations and the international community to step in to save their “huge investments and thus future”.

The traders warned that if India did not reverse its decision, they would stage a demonstration in front of its High Commission in Islamabad in the second phase of their protest, followed by similar demonstrations by the expatriate Kashmiris in other world capitals.

The cross-LoC trade was launched pompously by India and Pakistan as their second Kashmir-centric confidence building measure in October 2008, three and a half years after the launching of cross-LoC travel.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019

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