Mufti Sayeed lauds decision to open Srinagar-Muzaffarabad trade link

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) patron has hailed the decision to enhance cross-border trade taken at recent secretary-level trade talks between India and Pakistan.

Jammu, Aug 5 : Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) patron has hailed the decision to enhance cross-border trade taken at recent secretary-level trade talks between India and Pakistan.

"We are happy that when the Pakistan trade secretary recently visited, he agreed in principle to open trade links between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad, make it a no-customs zone," Sayeed told a public meeting here on Saturday.

However, he added that free trade between the two countries should not be confined to the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route, and called for extending it to other "traditional routes" also.

"Free movement of people and goods should not be confined to Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road only, but must be extended to all the traditional routes, including Suchetgarh-Sialkote, Kargil-Skardu, Bandipora-Gurez-Gilgit, Poonch-Rawalakote and Nowshera-Mirpur roads," he said.

"All talks of Kargil-Skardu, Rawalkot-Poonch and Srinagar-Muzaffarabad would be meaningless till a Suchetgarh-Sialkot link is established," Sayeed added.

At the two day trade talks which concluded in New Delhi on August 1, India and Pakistan announced to increase the bilateral trade by six times to 10 billion dollars by 2010. Both sides agreed to work to ease barriers that have hit commercial ties between the old rivals.

Indian exports to Pakistan have doubled in fiscal 2006/07 over the previous year and imports from across the border had grown by about 70 percent during the same period.

Indian exports to Pakistan in 2006-07 stood at 1348.32 million dollars, while Pakistan exports to India over the same period were worth 323.19 million dollars.

ANI