Mehbooba urges Amit Shah to withdraw tax notifications served to cross-LoC traders

Srinagar, Aug 09: The former Chief Minister of J&K and People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief, Mehbooba Mufti on Friday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to withdraw taxes being demanded from traders who participated in the cross LoC trade.

The cross LoC trade between Indian and Pakistan through the Line of Control along Uri in north Kashmir and through Poonch in the southern part was initiated by the Government of India in 2008. The trade system was barter, and didn't involve any cash transactions.

Terming the cross LoC trade and bus services as significant measures for confidence building, uniting divided families living in separately administered parts of Kashmir and establishing "normalcy" in the region, Mehbooba said that it is unfortunate that the services were suspended in 2019.

The suspension of these services, Mehbooba said was causing immense hardships to those whose livelihood depended on them.

Mehbooba said that while the suspension had already taken a toll on these traders, their concerns have been aggravated by the  present administration's move to demand taxes from them.

"Traders who participated in this barter system are now being served with notices demanding tax payments for transactions that were non-monetary and didn't involve any taxation at the time when it was initiated," read the letter from Mehbooba addressed to Union Minister Shah.

These demands, Mehbooba said were not "only unjust but also impossible for the traders to meet as thousands of them have already lost their livelihoods due to the suspension of the trade."

While requesting the Home Minister to intervene in the matter, Mehbooba urged him to consider resuming the cross LoC trade which she said would "serve to build confidence for the people of J&K and will be another step towards normalcy in the region."