Rotten oranges and blighted hopes

28 March 2009

Richard Orange reports from Srinagar, capital of Indian Kashmir, on an economy paralysed by conflict despite efforts to re-open ancient trading links with Pakistan

Ishaq Chowdhary pulled the top off a wooden crate to show oranges fringed with powdery white mould. It was a freezing morning at the fruit market in Srinagar, capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, and market workers, huddling traditional fire-pots beneath their gowns, are sipping tea and starting to unload the day’s deliveries. The previous afternoon, five trucks rumbled into the market carrying oranges, pomegranates, bananas and grapes from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

When the first consignment of Pakistani goods rolled across the Aman Setu bridge, or ‘bridge of peace’, 100 days earlier, they were welcomed by cheering crowds. It wasn’t quite the fall of the Berlin Wall, but after 60 years, a people severed by partition was taking a step closer together. For Chowdhary that excitement had long since ebbed. ‘It’s C-grade goods,’ he said, pointing at the oranges. ‘The best products are being sold at Lahore and Islamabad. The image of Pakistan has been tarnished by this trade.’

That’s the least of the disappointment: the bridge can only support the weight of pick-up trucks, not proper lorries; only 21 types of goods are permitted; there is no mechanism for cross-border payments, so it has to be a barter system; and, most irritating for Chowdhary, it is impossible for traders in Indian-controlled Kashmir to phone anyone in Pakistan — the lines have been blocked for 60 years. So it’s difficult to complain when your consignment of oranges comes in half-rotten.

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