Pakistan and India have resumed barter trade at a border crossing in Kashmir according to an Indian official. A general strike and skirmishes between Indian security forces and Kashmiri freedom fighters continue in the area.
Hostilities between India and Pakistan escalated dramatically late last month, after a suicide attack in the Pulwama district of Indian-occupied Kashmir on February 14. Firing along the border became a common sight, disrupting trade and travel. Trade across the Line of Control (LoC), was part-suspended earlier, according to the official.
However, the route re-opened after firing in the region eased, said Riyaz Ahmad Malik, an official in the Indian-occupied part of Kashmir.
Thirty-five trucks left for Chakothi on the Pakistani side of the border with a similar number moving in the opposite direction, he said. Trade across the LoC operates on a barter system, where no money is exchanged.
“This trade is heavily dependent on the trust factor,” said Pawan Anand, President of a local trading association in Indian-occupied Kashmir. “We neither meet traders of Pakistan nor can check the quality of imported goods until they reach us.” Ashfaq Ahmad, a trader in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, said he quoted rates on WhatsApp with his Pakistani counterpart.
“I send cumin and chilli seeds to Pakistan and in return order prayer mats and cloth,” he said. “If there is any difference, it is adjusted in the next consignment. It is all trust-based trade but it is working.”
Indian traders export cumin, chilli pepper, cloth, cardamom, bananas, pomegranate, grapes and almonds. Prayer mats, carpets, cloth, oranges, mangoes and herbs return from the Pakistani side.
Published in Daily Times, March 6th 2019.
