Srinagar, April 15: The Traders are demanding authorities to reopen trade routes with Pakistan as the prices of goods and food continue to skyrocket in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
Three years after trade was halted across the "Line of Control" between India and Pakistan, the impact is being felt by thousands of villagers in remote areas who had depended on free trade.
Before the crossing was closed, trucks loaded with goods would enter IIOJK four times a week
However, New Delhi stopped cross-border trade in April 2019 as it prepared to scrap occupied Jammu and Kashmir's semi-autonomous status under Article 370 and 35 A.
During the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, more people are eating fruits and buying other commodities in Muslim-majority regions of IIOJK. The closure has led to high prices for common goods.
The LOC traders' association in Kashmir said that the prices of commodities have increased by 200% after the suspension.
"Buying fruits like grapes, oranges, dates, Miswakhs (teeth-cleaning twigs), or spices that were traded through the LoC is now beyond many people's budget," the Kashmiri traders said.
When LOC trade was active, 21 items were allowed to be traded, including varieties of fruits, vegetables, and handicrafts. The trade was carried out duty-free using a barter system and did not involve exchanges of currency.
The trade route created a frontier economy and provided livelihoods to thousands of people living in remote areas that usually see meagre economic activity.
Official data shows more than 4,000 families were directly involved in the day-to-day trade operations across the LoC. Manufacturers, farmers, and truckers that provided and moved goods also benefited.
After the route was closed, many traders either stopped the business or are under heavy debt.
"We became victims of the harassment from investigative agencies and banks," said LoC traders' association whose fruit business has since closed.
Laborers in the once-bustling LOC towns now struggle to find work. Before the suspension of trade, laborer Mushtaq Ahmad used to earn $10 a day. "I have three children and one of them quit his studies to work in a hotel in Srinagar because there was no income for the family," Ahmad said.