Cross-loc trade: Business as usual

SRINAGAR:IT was business as usual on Srinagar-muzaffarabad road on Tuesday as 70 trucks crossed the LOC between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) at Kaman Post, hours after IAF pounded Jaish-emohammad terror camps in Pakistan. As many as 35 trucks carrying goods from Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre at Uri entered POK as part of the cross-line of Control trade between the divided parts of the state, officials said.

They said an equal number of trucks arrived from the other side at the trade facilitation centre on the Indian side. The exchange of goods, which is held on barter basis, takes place from Tuesday to Friday every week. The trade on Srinagar-muzaffarabad road was started in October 2008 as a confidence building measure as part of the composite Indo-pak dialogue.

The trade has been suspended several times in the past whenever there was any tension between the two countries like in the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

In a swift and precise air strike following the Pulwama attack, India bombed and destroyed Jaish-e-mohammed’s biggest training camp in Pakistan early Tuesday, killing a “very large number” of terrorists, trainers and senior commanders, officials said earlier in New Delhi.

The operation, described as a non-military, preemptive strike, was welcomed by the entire political spectrum and military experts.