First time after the unrest started in Kashmir, the trade activity across the line of Control (loC) resumed between two parts of Kashmir on Tuesday as a dozen trucks exchanged merchandise for barter at Uri. The trade resumed nine days after a deadly attack on an Army formation killed 18 soldiers and four fidayeen militants at Uri. The attack caught global attention in the backdrop of public protests in Kashmir since July 9 and severed relations between India and Pakistan.
Custodian of the Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) Salamabad in north Kashmir’s Uri of Baramulla district, Farooq Ahmad Shah said that twelve trucks crossed over to Muzaffarabad, the capital of pakistan occupied Kashmir carrying red chilli and embroidered clothes. He said one truck carrying embroidered suits from Muzaffarabad crossed over to this side.
The trading activity, which began in October 2008 fall as a confidence building measure to increase people-to-people contact between divided parts of Kashmir, was suspended since the second week of July, days after Hizbul Mujahideen militant Burhan Wani’s killing triggered massive protests in Kashmir and suspended normal life.
Shah said the trading activity is scheduled for four days in a week from Salamabad on Tuesday to Friday. He said last trading activity was undertaken on July 12 during past 81 days of ongoing unrest since militant commander Burhan Wani was killed on July 08.
Reports said Pakistani traders stayed away from work for a week initially, to protest civilian killings in the valley and express “solidarity with the people of Kashmir”.
Twenty-one items, including eatables, garments and handicrafts, are traded on the twin routes — Srinagar-Muzaffarabad in Kashmir and Poonch-Rawalakote in Jammu four days a week.