On the 18th of April, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued orders to suspend trade across the Line of Control (LoC) between Pakistan and Jammu & Kashmir.
According to the Government of India, this move was taken because the trade routes between the two places were severely misused by multiple elements from Pakistan.
“This action has been taken as the Government of India has been receiving reports the Cross LoC trade routes are being misused by the Pakistan based elements for funnelling illegal weapons, narcotics and fake currency etc,” said the MHA while releasing a statement about the issue.
The release said, the trade route was being used for everything but its original purpose, which was to transport commonly used goods between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan. Furthermore, the LoC trade route wasn’t being used to ease the lives of the people in the area, but to promote terrorism.
Keeping all this in mind, the MHA said it will reopen talks about the trade after it has found a suitable solution to the problem. “So it’s decided to suspend LoC trade at Salamabad and Chakkan-da-Bagh in J&K. Meanwhile, a stricter regulatory and enforcement mechanism is being worked out and will be put in place in consultation with various agencies. The issue of reopening of LoC trade will be revisited thereafter,” said the MHA in its release.
The MHA started looking into this issue after the multiple hostile encounters between India and Pakistan.
Stay tuned for more updates.
