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| India-Pakistan |
| Long-Closed Kashmir Trade Route Reopens |
| 2008-10-22 |
| CHENNAI, India, Oct. 21 -- More than a dozen trucks carrying apples, honey, rice and rock salt rumbled across a long-disputed frontier between India and Pakistan in the Himalayan region of Kashmir on Tuesday as an ancient trade route was reopened. It had been shut down after the two countries gained independence 61 years ago. The opening of the 106-mile road -- running along a mountain valley from Srinagar in India to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan -- is seen as another tentative step by the two governments toward building peace in the disputed Kashmir region. India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir and came close to a third one in 2002. For many Kashmiris, the road's opening is considered a potential boost to the economy. It comes after weeks of massive street protests calling on India to open the border to Pakistan for trade. But critics were cautious about declaring the road's opening a victory. For one, they say, its opening is too restrictive: Only 21 items are approved for trade, and the road will remain closed five days a week. Also, non-traders are not allowed to freely cross the border. "Trade has to be conducted by people," Sajjad Lone, a moderate Kashmiri separatist leader, wrote in an op-ed in the Greater Kashmir newspaper. "And people have to be able to move freely to trade. If people can't travel freely, if trading choices are pre-selected, if telephonic communication is barred -- how can they trade freely?" Still, the route gives merchants in Indian-controlled Kashmir a more direct route to foreign markets through the Pakistani port city of Karachi. The road also opens up new business opportunities for Pakistani merchants. "It's a historic day which will surely help the economies of both parts of Kashmir," Narendra Nath Vohra, the governor of Indian-controlled Kashmir, told the crowds as he waved to a convoy of 13 Indian trucks carrying apples into Pakistan. Television images showed trucks garlanded with flowers and banners that said: "Long live cross-border trade." The push to reopen the ancient trade route was given fresh momentum in August after Hindu protesters blocked the only usable road connecting predominantly Muslim Kashmir with the rest of India, torching and looting trucks carrying fruit, meat and medicines. In response, merchants in Indian-controlled Kashmir began a campaign to open the route to Pakistan. |
| Posted by:Steve White |