This Article is From Oct 16, 2009

Barter experiment fails at Line of Control

Jammu: Last year, in order to boost trade and reduce wastage of perishable items for lack of takers, a unique cross-border barter trade between India and Pakistan was flagged off at the Line of Control (LoC).

It was meant to allow traders from the Indian side of Kashmir and the Pakistani side to barter 22 local items like fruits, vegetables, and even handicrafts.

From barter, it was supposed to evolve into money transactions. Instead, the trade has almost disappeared.

"Problem is that the governments of two countries have started this trade, but there aren't any facilities provided for it. And there isn't any process for regulation and mechanism for dispute resolution between the traders," said Zulfikhar Abbasi, president, Federation of J&K Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

No banking facilities have been extended to the traders. Also, security objections on both sides are still to be addressed, so much so that even basic phone lines don't work across the LoC.

As a result, goods worth only Rs 20 crore have been bartered though the trade in the last one year, whereas the potential is many times more.

"Traders need banking and telephone facilities. Telephone calls can be made from PoK to Jammu and Kashmir but not the other way round," said Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy.

The traders are pinning hopes on the upcoming Prime Minister's visit to the state. They want some sort of an assurance for making cross LoC trade simpler and hassle-free so that it emerges as a real Kashmir-specific confidence building measure.
.