India, Pakistan inch closer to starting Line of Control trade

India and Pakistan have made good progress towards starting trade across the Line of Control, but the euphoria was tempered by Islamabad’s reluctance to open a third trade route between Kargil and Skardu and its dilly-dallying over dispatching a business delegation from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to Srinagar.

The Indo-Pak joint working group on cross-LoC confidence-building measures, which met here on Monday, firmed up lists of items to be traded on the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Poonch-Rawalkot routes. Both countries will trade in export surplus commodities. Customs and security matters were also discussed.

India was keen to launch cross-LoC trade in the first week of October, coinciding with Gandhi Jayanti and Id-ul-Fitr, but the Pakistani delegation led by additional secretary (South Asia) Aizaz Ahmed Choudhary is understood to have told the Indian team, headed by external affairs ministry joint secretary (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) T.C.A. Raghavan, that it wanted more time.

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