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| Cross LOC trade, who will address grey areas? | | Squaring of this medieval trade is a mystery | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 4:Cross LOC trade is one of the major CBMs taken by India and Pakistan to ease tensions between the two countries and to re-establish closer trade links between the people living in two parts of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The trade is still going on as a medieval trade based on barter, a mere exchange of goods for each other. Significantly, this must be the only trade in the World which is still going on a barter basis. The traders routing their goods through the Chankan Da Bagh crossing in Poonch and the Aman Setu Bridge in Baramulla district have been complaining of lack of modern trading facilities like banking, foreign exchange, telephone etc. The traders also demand that the trading list should include all tradable commodities instead of the 21 select items in which trading is presently going on.
One of the chief demands of these traders has been exemption from VAT which is charged on the goods sold by the cross LOC traders in the state.
Encouraging the cross LOC trade is absolutely justified since it will melt down the walls between the Pakistan occupied Kashmir and the rest of the Jammu and Kashmir state.
But, the tragedy with the cross LOC trade is that it has not remained confined between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir state those are constitutionally seen and believed to represent one state.
How did Peshawari chappals and Amritsari shawls get into the cross LOC trade as no part of either the Pakistan occupied Kashmir or elsewhere in the state produces these items?
It is widely believed that the cross LOC trade has actually become a trade between Amritsar and Lahore and the status of the local traders either here in Jammu or in the Valley is merely those of forwarding agents.
Wealthy traders in Amritsar and Lahore have been sending their goods through traders in Jammu and Kashmir and those from Lahore have been sending their goods through traders in Muzaffarabad across the LOC and this is still known as the cross LOC trade?
It has actually become a trade between India and Pakistan on a large scale after having been initially started as a sort of concession for traders across the LOC only.
There have been complaints of some LOC traders indulging in Hawala rackets whose final beneficiaries are reportedly the separatist leaders and the militants. Sources told Early Times police have already arrested some traders who have been using the cross LOC trade for running a full blown Hawala racket to siphon money illegally for furthering the objectives of the anti-national elements in the state.
The interests of bona fide cross LOC traders must be protected and all the possible concessions extended to them so that cross LOC trade grows into a major commercial activity between the two parts of Jammu and Kashmir state.
At the same time, it is crucially important that the interests of the country are kept uppermost while dealing with the procedure and system of the cross LOC trade.
Imperfect accounting systems, lack of proper banking facilities, goods being sold and bought on barter basis are some of the visible grey areas of this trade those can always be exploited by the enemies of peace for vitiating the peaceful atmosphere in the state.
The accounts are squared up only in the minds of the traders on the two sides. There is no official foolproof system to check whether actually goods traded have been squared up and balanced? How do the authorities arrive at a safe calculation once ten quintals of pulses are traded for five hundred Peshawari chappals? The conclusion can be only arbitrary and liable to error. This leaves the operating space wide open for mala fide trade practices which can also be done to benefit the interests of forces inimical to peace and prosperity in Jammu and Kashmir. Ends |
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