J&K Hands Salamabad Cross-LoC Trade Post to Tourism Department, Formally Ending 2008 Uri-Muzaffarabad Trade Route

Under a September 12, 2026 order, the Jammu & Kashmir government formally handed over the Trade Facilitation Centre at Salamabad, Uri — one of two official cross-LoC trade points, opened in October 2008 to run a barter-trade route between Kashmir and Pakistan-administered Muzaffarabad — to the Tourism Department, which is repurposing the site for border tourism (accommodation rooms, a cafeteria, a park and LoC viewpoints in North Kashmir's Uri sector). Cross-LoC trade at Salamabad and the other crossing point, Chakan da Bagh in Poonch, had already been suspended indefinitely since April 2019, when India's Ministry of Home Affairs cited misuse of the routes for smuggling weapons, narcotics and fake currency, with several trading firms allegedly linked to banned militant organisations; the September conversion order closes the chapter formally rather than changing the on-the-ground trade freeze. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti objected publicly on September 20, urging Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to take the matter up with the Government of India and restore the centre's original purpose: 'The Salamabad Trade Facilitation Centre was built to bridge divided families, revive trade and heal wounds, not be reduced to a mere tourist site. It came at a heavy price, with many PDP workers losing their lives during the Muzaffarabad Chalo rally... Kashmir needs more bridges to the outside world, not the shutting of those that connect us.'