Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 13: The trans-Line of Control (LoC) trade between India and Pakistan was suspended today following a communication from Pakistani authorities after family members of arrested driver and truck drivers blocked the entry of trucks into Trade Facilitation Centre Chakoti since yesterday.
And in the meantime, Pakistan has acted tough against the Trade Facilitation Officer, his staff and security and registered an FIR against them and the driver, Syed Inyat Shah, who is in Jammu and Kashmir Police custody.
The TFO Salamabad, Shoukat Ahmad Rather, told Excelsior that last evening Director General of PoK Travel and Trade Authority (TATA), Brigadier (retd) Imtiaz Wain, sent a letter to them asking for suspension of the trade for Friday following law and order problem in Chakoti due to arrest of PoK driver by Jammu and Kashmir Police in Uri.
Rather said that the trade was suspended for the day, however, hoped that it will be resumed on Tuesday. He said that Pakistani authorities have told them to send only 25 trucks for first week as they have changed entire staff at TFC, Chakoti after recovery of brown sugar from a Pakistani truck in Salamabad last Friday.
Reports said that Pakistani police registered an FIR against Syed Inyat Shah, the driver who is in the custody of Jammu and Kashmir Police, the owner of Mir Traders Ishtiaq Mir who had sent these drugs and TFO, Chakoti Basharat Iqbal.
The owner of Mir traders is reportedly absconding; however, his close relatives have been arrested. Pakistani Police have also arrested sacked TFO, Basharat Iqbal, in alleged narcotic smuggling case.
Sources said that Commissioner and deputy police chief of Muzaffarabad are monitoring the case on a priority basis. They have sought cooperation from Indian authorities to investigate the case. Authorities in Kashmir have already asked them to use diplomatic channels for seeking any material evidence in narcotics recovery case.
In the meantime, the POK traders have struck a deal with the family members of the arrested drivers and owner of the truck seized by Jammu and Kashmir Police in Uri. The traders will pay Rs 3 lakh to arrested truck driver, Syed Inyat Shah, and Rs 10 lakh to owner of the truck. Rs 500 will be collected from every truck that crosses the LoC by Truckers Union and Rs 10, 000 each would be given to the families of the two arrested drivers Shah and Mohammad Shafiq of Sarwar Muzaffarabad and Rs 20, 000 per month to the owner of the truck.
After the agreement, the 15 truckloads of bananas that were lying at TFC, Chakoti have been loaded in trucks and is on way to Rawalpindi.
The trade standoff between India and Pakistan at Aman Setu ended on Thursday night after 50 trucks from Kashmir arrived back in Salamabad TFC and 21 trucks from PoK crossed towards Muzaffarabad.
Over 9 kilogramme of brown sugar recovered from the Pakistani truck on last Friday led to week’s standoff at LoC that ended last night. This is not for the first time that drug seizure led to suspension of the trade. On January 17 last year, Police seized 114 packets of brown sugar from a truck (RIS-2137) driven by Mohammad Shafiq of Sarwar Muzaffarabad in Salamabad Uri.
27 Indian trucks along with their drivers were detained by Pakistan and they didn’t allow their own 48 Pakistani trucks and their drivers to return for about three weeks and trade was suspended for four weeks. However, the present standoff was resolved in a week.
India and Pakistan had started cross LoC trade in Jammu and Kashmir from Uri in Kashmir and Chakan-da-Bagh in Jammu in 2006, a year after Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service was started in April 2005 first time after the partition.
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