LAHORE: The smuggling of vegetables between Pakistan and India resumed in recent days following the de-escalation witnessed after Islamabad returned an Indian Air Force pilot after holding him briefly in captivity.
Smuggled garlic from the country’s eastern neighbour could be found in Lahore’s vegetable market. Two truckloads of garlic were sold within hours of reaching the Badami Bagh vegetable market.
Trade via the border in Kashmir was halted following the recent uptick in tensions between the two nuclear-armed countries, but as trade resumed between Indian occupied Srinagar and Azad Kashmir’s Chakothi, trucks loaded with tomatoes and other vegetables from India reached the vegetable wholesale markets of Rawalpindi and Lahore.
The two trucks of garlic which reached the market in Lahore on Friday morning were carrying at least 200 50kg bags of garlic, said sources from the wholesale vegetable market.
A wholesaler of the market had ordered the garlic, which raised concerns among the local traders reportedly. As the Wholesalers Association has posted anti-Indian posters and banners, only a few sellers are engaged in selling the smuggled commodity.
The general secretary of the Traders Association at Badami Bagh Fruit and Vegetable Market, Chaudhry Khalid Mehmood, shared that the smuggled fruits and vegetables from the Azad and occupied Kashmir are brought to the markets in Punjab.
“Despite informing the customs chief collector, including several authorities in writing, the trade remains uncurbed.”
Chaudhry Akram, an assistant to CM Punjab and the chief of the price control task force, shared with media that the trade of goods in Azad and occupied Kashmir takes place through the barter system.
“The fruits and vegetables brought from the occupied Kashmir are more than the need of the Kashmiris and they cannot be consumed. Hence, due to this reason, the item reaches Lahore and other markets.”
He said that he opposes trade with India via Wagah border but since the item is supplied through a barter system via Kashmir, he does not oppose it.
He further claimed that potatoes from Pakistan are being smuggled to the occupied Kashmir using the barter system.
