LAHORE: Skirmishes on the Kashmir Line of Control (LoC) and Sialkot Working Boundary between Pakistan and India has not yet stopped cross border trade between the rivals at the Wagah-Atari crossing, traders and government officials say.
Both traders and border authorities are of the view that if Indian aggression continues, the ongoing peace process would be hurt, hindering the development of India’s Non Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) to Pakistani markets.
So far, bilateral trade has been slow, but steady, without any side effects, as per different government agencies posted at the Wagah border. “The trade activities remained suspended for three holidays of Eid Al Adha other than Sunday and resumed on Thursday,” one trader said.
Speaking of regular trade activity and pace of transporting goods on both sides of the border, officials said that cement, vegetables, gypsum, etc, are traded routinely, and activities get brisk during cotton and soybean seasons, especially when huge quantities are imported from India. At the moment, trade is slow, they added.
However, a number of traders suggest the situation might change if the aggression continues.
Mian Idrees, owner of Sitar Chemicals, one of the top chemical exporters to India believes that ongoing tension can impact bilateral trade. About the role of Indo-Pak business giants on easing the situation, Idrees went on to say that though they can influence, ‘this impact would not be too much’.
He suggested that both the governments should avoid creating tension, as the world was moving towards unification and economic betterment with cordial relations.
An official of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association said that so far no impact was witnessed on cement dispatches to India. INTERNEWS
