Cross-LoC trade will not stop, says Mehbooba Mufti

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday said that the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) will not allow the closure of cross-LoC trade and pushed for nominating members to the Assembly from the other side of the LoC for joint meetings.

The PDP will not allow the closure of cross-Line-of-Control (LoC) trade and continue to work towards opening more routes across the de facto border with Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK), she said at a rally to mark her party’s 18th foundation day.

Seeking a joint legislature with political participation of PoK residents, she said, “There are (25) seats reserved in our Assembly for that Kashmir. We should decide together to make nominations for those seats. We should decide that this Assembly meets once in this Kashmir and once in that Kashmir every year so that we can talk about tourism, travel and opening of Sharda Peeth (temple in PoK).”

Sharda Peeth is a revered place of Kashmiri pandits and is located about 150 km from Muzaffarabad, the capital of PoK. Assuring continuation of cross-LoC trade, which is under the scanner for alleged terror funding and movement of narcotics, she said, “There are many difficulties through the Wagah border (in Punjab), charas and ganja comes from there but no one talks about closing it. Just because a mistake happens on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road, we should not talk about closing it.”

“We will not allow that to happen,” she said.

“We are in favour of opening more routes. There should be facilities like banking there (at crossing points). There should be (full) body scanners (for trucks) so that we know what is coming in and what is going out from here,” she said.

The chief minister also appealed to all parties to collectively find a solution to the problems of Jammu & Kashmir. On July 21, the Jammu & Kashmir police seized on LoC 66.5 kg of narcotics, including heroine and brown sugar, worth Rs 300 crore from a truck coming from (PoK) in Baramulla district. Following a complaint from India, Pakistani authorities earlier this week asked for suspending the trade between the two sides.

According to media reports, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has recommended the closure of cross-LoC trade after gathering “evidence” that it is being misused to fund terrorists.

The cross-LoC trade, which takes place twice a week, was restored by launching of truck services simultaneously on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawlakote routes on October 21, 2008, ending a 61-year-long embargo.