POONCH: A meeting of Trade Officers of both India and Pak was held on Friday at Zero point Chakan-da-Bagh Poonch in which a decision was taken to resume the Poonch – Rawlakote Bus service and cross border trade through this route. The gates of both sides at Chakan-da-Bagh were opened at 12.45 PM and closed at 13.50 PM after completion of the meeting.
Those who participated in the meeting include Director Trade and Travel Shahid Ahmed, Trade Facilitating Officer (TFO) Mohd Naem Khan and ATFO Mohd Irshad from Pak side and Custodian Mohd Tanveer, TFO Prithpal Singh and Dy SP Tufail Mir from Indian side.
The officers of both sides agreed to resume the bus service and cross border trade which had been stopped since July 10, 2017 after the cross border firing.
Meanwhile the traders of Poonch Rawlakote Association in a meeting hailed the decision by the agencies of both India and Pakistan for resuming the bus service and cross border trade. President of the Association Abdul Razak Khaki, Vice President Krishan Singh and social activist Imtiaz Salaria said that with the abrupt closing of trade, the businessmen of both the sides could not settle their accounts amounting to crores of rupees due to which they had to suffer heavy loss.
The traders thanked the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, MLA Poonch Shah Mohd Tantray, Divisional Commissioner, DDC Poonch and the army authorities. Prominent among others present in the meeting included Mohd Amin Magray, Haji Mohd Latief, Shazaad Ahmed Naik, Anil phool, Nischant Gupta, Harpal Singh, Daljeet Singh, Jhangir Khan, Mohd Sadeeq Salfia, Mohd Aziz, Ripu Datta, Haji Ghulam Mohd and Sanjeev Ghai.