Salamabad Cross-LoC Trade Centre Shuts, Handed to Tourism Department

The cross-border trade facility at Salamabad in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir has been formally wound up, with the state government transferring the site from the Industries and Commerce Department to the Tourism Department.

The Trade Facilitation Centre (TFC) at Salamabad had regulated a duty-free, cashless barter arrangement between the two sides of the Line of Control. Goods of equal value were exchanged instead of payments being routed through banking channels or foreign exchange. The facility had been lying idle since trade was suspended in 2019.

Officials said the centre will now be repurposed to promote border tourism in the Uri sector. A Tourism Department official said the facility is being taken over and will be used for tourism, with plans to outsource its operations to generate jobs and livelihood for local youth and make them partners in promoting border tourism.

Uri MLA Dr Sajad Shafi welcomed the decision, saying it would bring Uri onto the tourism map and create opportunities for residents who have suffered since cross-LoC trade stopped in 2019. He thanked Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and the government for handing the facility to the Tourism Department. He noted that Uri has considerable tourism potential and that the TFC offers good facilities for visitors, including accommodation at Salamabad.

Tourists have been visiting Uri in recent years, including the Aman Setu, or Peace Bridge, at Kaman. The bridge, which links the divided parts of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, was built as part of the revival of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road before the bus service began in 2005. That service, known as Karwan-e-Aman or Caravan of Peace, was meant for separated families on both sides of the Line of Control. Travel across the de facto border was permitted without a visa or passport, using a special entry permit issued by local authorities after verification.

Cross-LoC trade began in 2008 as a confidence-building measure between India and Pakistan, following the launch of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service in 2005. Under the barter system, 21 mutually agreed items, including apples, dry fruits, handicrafts and textiles, were traded. The arrangement ran for 11 years, from 2008 to 2019, creating a new market and economic model for both sides of the LoC.

Security agencies, however, flagged concerns over misuse of the trade by the Pakistani side and arrested several people for smuggling drugs and terror links. The February 2019 Pulwama suicide attack on a CRPF convoy, in which 40 personnel were killed, and the subsequent military action by the Indian Army against Pakistan, changed the situation. Two months after the attack, cross-LoC trade was suspended in April 2019, with the government citing security concerns including weapons smuggling and drug trafficking.

With the transfer of the Salamabad centre, any prospect of reviving trade between Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir has ended. The closure comes even as the ground situation in Kashmir has improved and border areas are increasingly promoted as tourist destinations, underscoring how ties between India and Pakistan remain frozen.