By IANS,
Jammu : As Jammu and Kashmir gets ready for cross border trade with Pakistan Tuesday, traders here, in a symbolic gesture, would be sending truck loads of fruits and vegetables as gift to people in Pakistani Kashmir.
The decision to begin the trade across the Line of Control (LoC) that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan comes after a meeting between Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New York last month.
“It is just going to be symbolic opening (Tuesday). We will be sending about five truck loads of fruits and vegetables as gifts to people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir,” said Ram Sahai, president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industries – Jammu.
Pakistan had sought postponement of opening the trade ties from Jammu’s Poonch-Rawlakote route on the plea that it had a single union of traders and that can be present only at Muzaffarabd to receive the trucks from the Kashmir valley.
However, the Indian side did not agree to the postponement as “our official machinery will be busy with elections and the Poonch district is going to the polls in the first phase Nov 17,” Sahai said.
He said the opening of this route would be a low key affair with only local traders present to send off the trucks.
Governor N.N. Vohra will be flagging off the trucks from Uri in the Kashmir valley to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, sources said.