In a bold bid for boosting people to people contact as a good instrument of building confidence between the two estranged sides of the State, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave his consent to the weekly bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad and also to the establishing of two LoC cross border points to conduct barter trade across the line. Whether this measure really contributed to the strengthening of goodwill between the two estranged peoples or is not what we are going to bring under focus. Actually initiated in 2008, the cross LoC trade has gathered some little momentum but that has not been without hiccups. Though, the quantum of trade has increased and last year transactions crossed several rupees yet on our side we continued to be confused on some important aspects of bilateral trade.
Revaluating the trade process across two identified points on the border namely Salamabad in Uri sector and Chakan da Bagh in Poonch sector a rather unpleasant and discouraging happenings have come to light. Indian security bosses who are conducting searches and inquiries of vulnerable sources of hawala money transactions may have come to the conclusion that some hawala money is being clandestine and illegally transferred through the conduits of separatist leadership working in the shape of cross-LoC traders. A couple of times in the past, disallowed commodities were seized from the trucks entering from PoK into the Valley or at Chakan-Da-Bagh. Surprisingly, the previous Central Government did not take any step to plug the loophole and disallow separatist activists in Kashmir to grab money for fueling the engines of subversion and separation in the Valley. That Government did not even care to emphasize the security aspect and take minimum steps to remove the concerns of security chapter particularly when militancy in Kashmir was showing no signs of decline. Undoubtedly, the principle of friendly relations with neighbours is good and appreciable in all circumstances. Still one needs to understand the current situation in fullest possible detail.
The present Government in the State and at the Centre have, fortunately, realized that the LoC-cross border trade should not be something like free for all as it is likely to provide much needed logistical and financial support to militancy. In this background, a new trade regime in this particular region has been proposed by the Union Ministry of Trade and Commerce. The Centre has proposed a slew of reforms to be adopted in regard to two cross border trading points. There are about 1200 traders registered at present for conducting business across the border. According to new orders issued by the Department of Industries, the validity of registration will expire after two years after which fresh extension will have to be obtained. The traders are also required to update their bank account details with complete residence and other particulars. All these and other loopholes have received due attention and in order to plug the same and address the concern of security agencies, the State Government has come up with new measures for streamlining the processes and procedures related to Cross-LoC trade. All the existing registered traders have been conveyed through the Custodians of Trade Facilitation Centers to immediately apply for renewal of registration as per the fresh guidelines.
Registration will be renewed after verification of Permanent Registration Certificate (PRC), Permanent Account Number (PAN), Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN), address proof of residence and business unit, audited bank accounts and antecedent verification etc. However, after two consecutive renewals, traders/firms will be rated as “A” category and will not be required to provide additional documents. The competent authority can suspend or cancel the registration of any trader/firm due to administrative and security reasons.
We think that these and other measures should have been taken much earlier. Nevertheless, now that orders have been issued it is important that these measures are implemented in letter and spirit so that the concerns of security agencies are dispelled. For the security of the State these measure are welcome.
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