Jammu, Aug 8 (PTI)
The cross-LoC trade between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) remained suspended for the fifth consecutive week via the Poonch-Rawalakote road.
Trade across the LoC was suspended on July 11 after heavy firing and shelling from the Pakistani side damaged the Trade Facilitation Centre and police barracks.
“The cross-LoC trade between businessmen in J-K and PoK remained suspended for the fifth consecutive week today,” Custodian of the LoC Trade (Poonch), Mohammad Tanveer, told PTI.
Due to closure of the trade, there has been a loss of over Rs 35 crores, the officer said.
The cross-LoC bus services on the Poonch-Rawalakot road between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) also remains suspended for the fifth consecutive week, an official said.
Nearly, 116 PoK residents, who traveled on the Paigam-e- Amun bus service to visit their relatives in J-K, have been held up here for the past four weeks.
Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed its worst skirmishes along LoC as nine soldiers were among the 11 people killed, 18 people injured in the state in July, besides damage to 35 structures.
The cross-LoC trade and travel are considered as major confidence building exercises between India and Pakistan.
The trade is also caught in the controversy over reports that the NIA, which is probing terror funding in Kashmir, may recommend its closure.
However, travel and trade begun on the Kashmir-side via the Uri-Muzaffarabad cross-LoC road yesterday.
