Truck scanners will be installed for goods for goods coming from Pak-occupied Kashmir (Representational)
The cross-Line of Control trade between India and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir will not be stopped, the central government has assured Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, even though the trade has been caught in a controversy after the National Investigation Agency or NIA's probe into terror funding in Kashmir.
The central government says it has plans to install two full body truck scanners to ensure that goods coming in are properly checked.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi had met Ms Mufti on Monday during his two-day visit to Srinagar. "Trade is not going to be stopped. In fact, we are at final stages of acquiring full body truck scanners," he told NDTV after returning to Delhi.
The Home Ministry will install the truck scanners at two points from where cross-LoC trade takes place: Poonch-Chakkandabagh and Uri-Muzaffarabad. The proposal to acquire the full body truck scanners was first proposed by the state government in 2010.
The cross-LoC trade and transport facilities are considered major confidence building exercises between India and Pakistan.
Ms Mufti had last week vowed not to allow the centre to shut down the Uri-Muzaffarabad trade route just because some mistakes had been made. Drugs come from the Wagah border too but nobody talks about shutting it, she had said.
The NIA was reported to have favoured stopping this trade route because there had been instances where it was used to finance terror. A few days back, nearly 70 kg heroin was also seized from a truck entering from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.
Trade across the Line of Control was suspended on July 11 after heavy firing and shelling from the Pakistani side. "There has been heavy shelling in the area due to which the workers who were working at this post (Poonch-Chakkandabad) ran away," said a senior officer from ministry.
According to the officer, trade would only start in this area after the situation normalises.