Cross-LoC trade: Plea to crack illegal dry coconut barter

Unofficial exchange hurting local businesses, national exchequer.


Our Correspondent March 21, 2015
Vohra asked the finance minister to take steps to put an end to the illegal trade in dry coconut and ensure that the item was not added at any cost to the barter list. STOCK IMAGE

KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra has requested Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to stop the illegal barter of dry coconut on the Line of Control (LoC) between Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian-held Kashmir.

Vohra, in a letter sent to Dar, said some KCCI member firms had complained about the misuse of cross-LoC trade that had brought businesses of dry coconut importers to the verge of collapse.

“Dry coconut can be removed from the barter list to save local traders from severe losses.”

He said under the cross-LoC trade, barter of goods being produced and manufactured in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian-held Kashmir was only allowed but nowadays terms and conditions were being violated as dry coconut, which was not produced in any of the two regions, was being bartered.



He pointed out that coconut cultivated in Kerala was initially being transported to Indian-held Kashmir and then bartered with Azad Kashmir, which was a clear violation of the trade regulations.

This dry coconut ultimately lands in Rawalpindi and is later sold in various markets of Karachi and other cities across Pakistan, resulting in losses to legal importers.

Vohra said the misuse of trade was not only affecting local businesses but was also causing a loss of Rs1 billion per annum in lost taxes, which the national exchequer otherwise receives from the legal importers of dry coconut.

The KCCI chief recalled that collective efforts made by them and the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 2011-12 had led to curbs on illegal barter of dry coconut and the commodity was excluded from the barter list.

“There are speculations that dry coconut may be added to the barter list of cross-LoC trade, but it will be totally unacceptable to the local businessmen and importers.”

Vohra asked the finance minister to take steps to put an end to the illegal trade in dry coconut and ensure that the item was not added at any cost to the barter list.

Furthermore, every possible step should be taken to encourage legal trade in order to secure the business of local importers, who have been using legal channels for importing this product and contributing substantially to the national exchequer, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21st, 2015.

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