India, Pakistan resume barter trade amid tension

SRINAGAR: India and Pakistan resumed barter trade at a border crossing in Kashmir on Tuesday, an Indian official said, but tension in the contested region continued with a general strike and more fighting between Indian security forces and separatists.

Hostilities between the nucleararmed neighbours escalated dramatically late last month, after an Indian air strike on what it said was a militant group that carried out a suicide attack in the Pulwama district of Indian-controlled Kashmir on February 14.

Trade across the border, known as the Line of Control (LOC), was partsuspended after repeated mortar and small arms fire at Uri, a border town where the exchange of goods takes place.

But on Tuesday the route reopened after firing in the region

INDIAN TRADERS EXPORT CUMIN, CHILLI PEPPER, CLOTH, CARDAMOM, BANANAS, POMEGRANATE, GRAPES AND ALMONDS. PRAYER MATS, CARPETS, CLOTH, ORANGES, MANGOS AND HERBS RETURN FROM PAKISTAN

eased, said Riyaz Ahmad Malik, an official in 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-administered Kashmir.

“We neither meet traders of Pakistan nor can check the quality of the imported goods until they reach us.” Ashfaq Ahmad, a trader said that he quotes 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, mangos and herbs return from the Pakistani side.