Open trade with Pakistan via Attari, Hussainiwala routes: KKU to Centre

Amritsar, August 21

The farmers’ body — Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) — has demanded that the government should open India-Pakistan trade through road routes at the Attari-Wagah and Hussainiwala borders. The union said it would help local cultivators get better price for their produce and open up new avenues for local labourers.

The KKU has announced that it would hold a conference at Attari on September 18 to press upon the Central Government to start trade through road routes instead of sea from the Mundra port in Gujarat.

Another conference would be held at Hussainiwala on September 20, said KKU president Nirbhay Singh Dhudhike during a press conference here today.

Union leaders Raminder Singh Patiala, Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala and Jatinder Singh Chinna said trade through the Attari-Wagah border was stopped after Pulwama attacks but it continued through Karachi.

They said apart from agricultural produce, Punjab could export agricultural machinery to the Middle East countries and through these to many European countries.

The union leaders said exporting goods to Pakistan through Gujarat was not viable as it increased transport and other costs.

Raminder Singh said currently, 80 per cent of the trade between the two countries was being done through the sea routes or indirectly through Dubai, which was expensive.

Direct trade through the Attari-Wagah and Hussainiwala road routes would not only reduce transport and other costs but also generate employment and make farmers, traders, truck operators and labourers of North India, especially Punjab economically prosperous, he said. The KKU leaders said agriculture and the economy of Punjab was in crisis. They said the country should take benefit of the situation in Pakistan which was facing acute shortage of foodgrains.

Jatinder Singh Chhinna said those demanding opening up of trade between India and Pakistan were often dubbed as anti-nationals. “Both Pakistan and China are enemy countries. If we have trade running into billions of dollars with China, why can’t we do business with Pakistan when it is in our own interest? Moreover, the government is not averse to trade with Pakistan when it is done through Gujarat, but such issues are raised only in Punjab,” he said.