Chakan-da-Bagh cross- LoC point in Poonch district is much talked about border locale for trade between the two parts of the divided State and visits if people from either side. Four years ago initiative was taken by the two countries in the hope that this would be a viable and supportive CBM as the two governments got engaged in a process of bilateral talks. However, by any length of imagination, the cross-LoC trade and communication is still mired in hiccups and there appear hurdles at each step and each move. The numbers of visitors who move across in weekly crossings and the quantum of trade conducted, both, do not augur well for the desired objective of the initiative. Officers from both sides have met and talked and said about how they want to give a forward movement to the process of people to people interaction. But there seems absolute control on the parameters of talks they hold. They cannot cross the limits so myopically imposed on them. Therefore it is advisable that a new look is taken at the entire proposition. If it is to be made viable and result-oriented then a new thinking has to develop on both sides. Doing things under a cloud of suspicion and doubts is exercise in futility. Imagine a visitor not allowed to carry more than 50 kgs of baggage or more than 15,000 rupees as pocket money when visiting relatives and friends on either side. What the officers have talked about in the meeting at Chakan-da-Bag appears so mundane and meaningless keeping in mind the lofty purpose for which it took two sides six decades and more to finalize.
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