A man plucks apples in Srinagar. (File picture)

Srinagar, Oct. 26: Trade across the LoC is turning out to be a damp squib a year after its resumption amid claims it would be one of the biggest confidence-building measures between India and Pakistan.

“We are still where we started last year. The total volume of trade, including imports and exports, has been around Rs 45 crore only. In Jammu, too, the volume would be around the same,” said Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Nazir Ahmad Dar.

The trade was reopened through the Kaman post in Uri on October 21 last year after a gap of 61 years. It was perceived as a concession to Kashmiri traders who had forcibly tried to open an alternative route during the Amarnath land agitation and the economic blockade of the Valley by protesters in Jammu.

Thousands of protesters had joined the procession led by traders to the Kaman post last August. Several persons, including separatist leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz, had died after security forces opened fire on the crowd.

Trade also began across the LoC in Jammu — through the Poonch-Rawalakote Road — a few weeks after the Uri route was opened.

The government now allows truck movement on the 187km Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, though the trade hasn’t gone beyond barter.

“There are no facilities. No communication or banking system exists. You need to have multi-entry trade permits for traders on both sides,” Dar said.

Calls to Pakistan are barred for security reasons. M.A. Wani, the custodian of the trade facilitation centre near the LoC in Uri, finds it a “miracle” that the office exists. “There is no exchange of money. Around 150 traders, mostly educated youths, are involved and the trade is mostly between their relatives,” he said.

Pulses, orange and rugs are among the major items imported; vegetables, coconut and cardamom are the main exports.

Dar said garlic had turned out to be a virtual hot potato.

“We were getting garlic at reasonable prices but its import was banned by the government on the ground that it was diseased. The fact is that garlic imports had hit the interests of the traders in adjoining states who were supplying to the Valley. The issue was not even discussed with us before the ban was enforced,” he said.

Apple exports were stopped to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir after claims that nothing was being sent back in return for the consignments. “These things are bound to happen when there is no communication system. You are doing all the business in the dark,” said fruit grower Ghulam Rasool.

A recent programme organised by the state government to mark completion of a year of the trade turned into a protest-lodging event. “Everybody was fuming and protesting the hindrances they face in conducting the trade,” Dar said.

The resumption of LoC trade was preceded by an April 2005 decision to allow travel across the ceasefire line, but only a handful of people are allowed to use this route.