INDIA & PAKISTAN AGREE TO KASHMIR TRADE ROUTE

Cross LOC Traders Overcome Hurdles- KO, 16 October 2008.
Uri-M’abad Route to be Ready by Oct 15 - KO, 23 September 2008.
India, Pak agree to Kashmir route - Reuters, 22 September 2008.

An agreement between India and Pakistan toward a more permanent, overland trade route in Kashmir, the roadway linking Uri (IN) and Muzaffarbad (PAK), took a positive step in September, despite increasing tensions in the region, and between the two nations. The future of this link, vital to the small business traders of Jammu & Kashmir state, is largely out of their own hands. Cross-border trade is threatened by three looming issues:
1. India's introduction of troops to Afghanistan, on Pakistan's Western Front.
2. India's construction of dams on rivers that flow into Pakistan from its Eastern Front.
3. Continued, and/or increasing instability in Pakistan.