On 21st October, the first anniversary of the cross LOC trade was celebrated. There were more stories of hurdles in the trade than the achievements. In fact, the function ended in a boycott by the Kashmiri traders and there were unruly scenes during the event. Yes there was an achievement and that is the effort of the traders on both sides to keep the trade alive in spite of numerous obstacles. The credit for this goes to the small traders on the two sides of the divide who have kept the trade going more for emotional than business reasons against all odds! It is truly a story in persistence. In any other part of the world people would have given up long time back the drama of the so called trade which in fact is a barter trade of the blind! The volume of the trade which from about 2 million rupees last year has increased to four hundred million during the current year may appear remarkable but it still amounts to about a day’s normal trade between Jammu and Srinagar!

Earlier one more round of Intra-Kashmir dialogue was held in Srinagar. Representatives from all parts of the State except Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly Northern Areas) participated in the dialogue. A large number of participants from both sides were traders. The discussions were frank, and open even though these were held in camera for the media. Delegates revealed many interesting facts about the cross LOC travel and trade. Firstly, the dialogue itself seems to lead nowhere. There have been umpteen rounds of dialogue at various levels but there are no tangible results. According to figures available through different sources there have been 120 rounds of dialogue to sort out the Kashmir problem. Instead of getting solved, the problem has been getting complicated and intractable with each round of dialogue. Even the dumb would have reached some definite conclusion if they had carried out a dialogue by sign language for such a long period of time! The dialogue on Kashmir does not even qualify to be termed as the dialogue of the dumb.

Most of the Confidence Building Measures seem to have become “Confidence Shaking Measures”. At the most these are symbolic and instead of getting improved and streamlined with the passage of time, these continue to deteriorate and may ultimately be given up altogether. Apart from cross LOC measures there are certain urgent measures needed within Kashmir. These have been in the pipeline since the first coalition government took over the reins of power under Mufti Mohammad Sayed. These include the thinning out of security forces from the civilian areas, revoking of draconian legislations, and release of prisoners. No progress has been made in this regard in last 6 to 7 years. Regarding the cross LOC measures, the less spoken, the better! Let us begin with the cross LOC travel. It involves dual verification. If one travels between two countries, there is only one verification from the country where one intends to go before a visa is issued. In case of cross LOC travel verification is conducted by both the sides. A number of people after getting disgusted with the wait for cross LOC travel have gone across on normal visas issued by the missions in Islamabad and Delhi which are much easier to get. Now take the actual travel. Travellers have to fill nine forms across and five forms on this side. Their names are registered at half a dozen places before they actually cross. The entire process in this 21st century of information technology is manual with entries being made in registers. In Delhi and Islamabad all immigration procedures are computerised. Normally it takes more than two hours to cross the LOC. Moreover, there is hardly any infrastructure for the travellers on the way. No wonder that in spite of more than four years of cross LOC travel not more than 3 to 4 thousand people have been able to use the facility. This is not because the people are not interested but because of the draconian clearance and travel procedures on both sides which are mind boggling and extremely annoying. The waiting list for travel is in thousands.

The story of the trade is more pathetic. Last year the trade was not started as a normal CBM but under compulsion. In fact this CBM had been agreed to with the opening of cross LOC travel and for three years preparations were under way but at a snails pace. The Amarnath land row followed by the economic blockade prompted a spontaneous upsurge for crossing the LOC. The main aim was to find an alternative to Bannihal Cart Road and the easiest one was the revival of traffic on the traditional Jhelum Valley Road which had been disrupted due to the conflict of 1947. People in hundreds of thousands in all types of vehicles with some carrying apples started marching towards LOC. According to the Indian Express correspondent Muzamil Jaleel, the procession was almost 17 kilometres long! Troops had to open fire just ahead of Baramulla to stop the unprecedented march. The violence resulted in the death and injury of scores of marchers including the veteran Hurriyat leader Sheikh Abdul Aziz. Unnerved by this new upheaval with more economic than political basis, the Government of India contacted Islamabad to hurriedly open the route for cross LOC trade. This was done more to assuage the ruffled feelings of already alienated Kashmiris than as a genuine Confidence Building Measure. The trade was started without first sorting out the basic requirements like meeting and communication among traders; the cross LOC banking facilities, and a market survey for actual commodities required to be traded from both the sides. In spite of a lapse of one year the streamlining of various procedures is yet to be done. On the contrary a number of items earlier cleared for trading have been banned by the authorities. Committees constituted to monitor and supervise the trade have yet to convene a meeting. There are still no communication and banking facilities. The trade is being carried on barter basis but without the traders meeting each other. The sellers do not know who their buyers are! It is truly a blind barter trade. Somehow, the security establishments in two countries seem to be deriving sadistic pleasure in forcing Kashmiris to start the trade as it was done in pre-historic times and that too without meeting each other. It is really a cruel joke being played on both the sides.

Normally, the authorities in Islamabad and Delhi should have grabbed this opportunity for reconciliation at the economic level. Developing an economic stake is the first step towards political reconciliation. The European Union is a living example of this process of economic union leading to political union among the sworn enemies of the two World Wars. There is only one starkly visible cause for this dithering on two sides. It is the total mistrust between the security establishments on two sides. Most of the interactions held at different levels among the civilians both within the government and outside reveal that there is no trust deficit among the grass roots people on two sides. However, in order to allow the process of the dialogue and the travel/trade to grow, the primary requirement appears to be reconciliation and dialogue between the security set ups on two sides. Unless the bosses of the ISI and FIA have a free, frank one to one talk with their counter parts in RAW and IB, the mistrust cannot be removed. They have to come out of their stereo-typed shells of perennial conflict based on an obsessive security phobia totally irrelevant in the present age of globalisation and move forward on the path of peace and reconciliation. They have to sincerely and honestly give up their own personal narrow interests in keeping the conflict alive! Till this is done, all the CBMs’ at all levels are bound to fail to deliver. As a consequence we will have no alternative but to live with the dialogue of the dumb and the barter trade of the blind!