to agree to the proposal in the next meeting of the Joint Working Group between the two countries,” he said, while referring to extending telecom and banking facilities at both Salamabad (Baramulla) and Chakan da Bagh trading points.
At the CPDR workshop, meanwhile, one of the pioneers of this trade, Sardar Kazeem Khan, who heads cross LoC trade union of Tatrinote, said, “We are not allowed to meet our trade counterparts frequently. There is no proper banking system or currency exchange mechanism in place, and continuation of trade in such a hostileexchange mechanism in place and continuation of trade in such a hostile security environment is an anomaly in International business.”
Among the suggested mechanisms, the issue of scanners availability was raised by almost every participant. They were of the view that trade goods upon entering Pakistan are unpacked and examined thoroughly which is a time consuming exercise, it destroys the life and quality of goods, multiplies the packing cost which disturbs the cost profit equation of the trade.
Also the promise of banking facilities across LoC hasn’t been fulfilled yet. Sardar Shahid Mahmoud, first trader to send consignment across in 2008 and who heads Kotli Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “My weekly consignment which is sent across is of 10 million PKR, but I always consider it a high risk investment as I don’t have any opportunity to meet my trade counterpart from other side. They can’t even make a phone call from the other side. If some dispute arises between traders, there is no dispute resolution council in place which makes it even more risky.”
Kashmiri trades called for immediate measures to bring some relief to the lack of access to the markets in Pakistan, issues of custom duty and legitimacy of cross LoC trade in Islamabad. “Irony is that, traders don’t have a viable market in Azad Kashmir and access to Lahore and Karachi markets isn’t granted to them so the volume of trade isn’t increasing as was expected earlier,” adds Ershad Mehmud.
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