Jammu: The trade between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) has been suspended for the last 16 weeks resulting in a loss of over Rs 80 crore.
The trade across the Line of Control (LoC) was suspended on July 11 after heavy firing and shelling from the Pakistani side caused damage to trade facilitation centres and police barracks. "Due to the suspension of trade along the LoC, there was a loss of over Rs 80 crore during the period," custodian of LoC trade (Poonch), Mohammad Tanveer said.
The cross-LoC bus service via Poonch-Rawalakot road has also been suspended for the last 16 weeks.
There have been multiple ceasefire violations along the LoC this year. Till August 1, there have been 285 such violations by the Pakistan Army, a sharp increase from 2016 when the number of violations were 228 for the entire year.
As trade remains suspended, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had said that it should be resumed, stating that the PDP would not allow its closure. She had said that the government will work towards opening more routes across the Line of Control with Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The cross LoC trade has been mired in a controversy amid the National Investigating Agency (NIA) investigating terror funding in Kashmir.
Meanwhile, probing the 2011 terror funding case, the investigating agency on Tuesday arrested Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin's son Syed Shahid Yusuf. According to the agency official, the investigation revealed that one of the accused, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, based in Syria, had allegedly transferred money to Yusuf on Syed Salahuddin`s orders between 2011 and 2014.
(With PTI inputs)
