MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 16: Senior AJK government officials visited the border town of Chakothi on Tuesday to have firsthand knowledge as well as make an assessment of the infrastructure requirements for smooth trans-LoC trade.

Led by Chief Secretary Khalid Sultan, the officials discussed as to how goods from both sides would be ferried across and also stowed at the initial stage, one of the officials told Dawn.

He said it had been decided that initially the goods would be put up in the existing infrastructure; adding that any new construction, permanent or temporary, to facilitate the traders would be made in consultation with the military authorities.

Further decisions in this regard would be taken after India and Pakistan finalise the modalities as well as list of the items for trade, he added.

The visit was undertaken as a follow-up to a high-level meeting with chief secretary in the chair where issues pertaining to the trans-LoC trade and enhanced frequency of Srinagar-Muzaffarabad and Rawalakot-Poonch bus services were reviewed.

As the joint working group of two countries on trans-LoC confidence building measures is about to meet next week to finalise the issues, AJK government has also geared itself up for the purpose, according to local officials.

India and Pakistan have already decided to increase the frequency of the bus services but the decision is yet to take effect.

Deputy Secretary Ejaz Ahmed Khan told Dawn that the buses would ply on weekly basis from the first week of October with increased number of passengers – 60 instead of 30 – on each run.

The meeting also discussed measures to enforce “triple entry system for senior citizens” and officials concerned were directed to make requisite amendments in the application forms, he said.

The meeting decided to revive the transportation of passengers from Muzaffarabad to Chakothi and vice versa in a 34-seat bus and two 16-seat coasters purchased for the purpose before the launch of the service in April 2005.The process was stopped after the devastating October 2005 earthquake and the vehicles would only carry passengers from Chakothi bus terminal to the Kaman Bridge and vice versa, a distance of hardly 3km, apparently due to security reasons.

Some officials pointed out that the transportation of passengers from and to Muzaffarabad under official cover had been abandoned on account of financial constraints, obstructing the deployment of police along the route of bus.

However, the meeting decided that since there was no threat to the service, the buses should carry passengers from and to Muzaffarabad without requiring any heavy police deployment.

The meeting also decided to purchase “dedicated buses” for Rawalakot-Poonch service with financial assistance from the AJK council. Currently, the passengers for that service also reach the crossing point at Tetrinote on their own. He said the meeting also discussed the likely visit of the AJK traders to Srinagar in connection with trans-LoC trade.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has denied having excluded fresh fruit from Kashmir Valley in the list of the goods for trans-LoC trade. “It's not correct. In fact we have not even finalised the list of items yet,” said Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq when asked by Dawn to comment on the veracity of a report in a Srinagar-based daily that “Pakistan had approved only a few items and refused to accept fresh fruit from Kashmir.”

An AJK government official also dismissed the report, saying he had himself seen the word “fruit” in the list of items agreed by Pakistan.

“After the word fruit, word apple was also mentioned in brackets. I don’t think fruit has been excluded from the list,” said the official who requested anonymity. He said all those items which had their origin in Kashmir would figure in the list.

It may be recalled that the foreign secretaries of both countries had exchanged a list of commodities with zero tariff regime in July, agreeing to indicate the items they were willing to receive to begin implementation.