The trade across the line of Control (loC) between divided parts of Jammu & Kashmir came under scanner again after two smugglers were arrested in the summer capital Srinagar with a consignment of narcotics. Both smugglers belong to a village in Uri, the border belt of north Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
“We have arrested two smugglers with two kilograms of heroin on Monday evening on the foot-bridge over Jhelum River. The white powdery substance has been sent for testing to Forensic Science laboratory (FSl)”, Station House Officer of Rajbagh Police Station Deepak Koul told The Pioneer.
This is the second haul of narcotics seized in Kashmir in past six weeks. Earlier in February, police seized 12 kilograms of narcotics from a Pakistani truck in Uri. The contraband drugs were concealed in orange boxes imported by a trader from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Interestingly, the latest seizure took place on a day when Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed expressed concern over proliferation of drugs and narcotics in J&K. He said the network of smugglers was so strong that they even infringe loC fencing. “They (traffickers) throw the packets from one side to the other”, he said in the Upper House of legislature on Monday.
The smugglers —Muhammad Sadiq Barwal and Alam Din Poswal are residents of Jabra village near the loC in Uri. “Since both of them belong to Uri where loC trade takes place, we are investigating that the narcotics have been smuggled in from PoK”, Koul said.
The linkage between the illicit trade and the loC is not misplaced. On February 7, police found 12 kilograms of suspected brown sugar from a truck that arrived from Muzaffarabad with a load of 305 orange-filled cartons. Sources said that 79 boxes were filled with brown sugar packets. The FSl tests confirmed that the packets contained contraband drugs.
The cross-loC trade has remained mired in controversy since it started between the two parts of Kashmir in October 2008, as a confidence building measure. The cross-loC trade was sequel to opening of travel points across the loC in April 2004 to enhance people-to-people contact between divided parts of Kashmir. Kaman Post in Uri and Chakan da Bagh in Poonch district of Jammu were the first two points opened for cross-loC bus and truck service.
A passenger bus known as Karwan-e-Aman ferries people every Monday between Muzaffarabad and Srinagar, primarily those who have relatives on either side of the loC. The highly restricted permits are given after verification from both sides of the de-facto border.
Sources said that if the loC link was established to the latest seizure of narcotics, it would be the third haul in more than a year. On January 17, 2014 authorities in Uri took driver of a Pakistani truck into custody after 114 kilograms of contraband drugs were recovered from the merchandise he carried from Muzaffarabad for delivery at Salamabad Trade Facilitation Center. The driver is still held in custody in Baramulla.
However, his arrest triggered a stand-off when Pakistani authorities detained 27 truck drivers at Chakoti in retaliation to the arrest of Pakistani driver. The other 48 drivers from Pakistan, who had crossed the loC on that fateful day, were not permitted to return to their country by the Pakistani authorities. The stand-off continued for 26 days. The diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad later resolved the issue.
The arrested driver is facing trial in anti-narcotics cases. Chief Minister Sayeed while speaking on drug abuse issue in Upper House said that the issue was very serious in nature as youngsters from affluent and ordinary families were fast getting addicted to drugs and narcotics.
“This is not an ordinary issue and it should not be discussed in the House only for the sake of discussion. All of us need to contribute to end this epidemic,” he said. “The rehabilitation of addicts is a long process and one should have patience while working on these sensitive issues”. He said that smugglers were using the loC route and there were reports that they (smugglers) throw packets (of drugs) above the loC fencing.