NEW DELHI, July 27: India and Pakistan embarked on a rare journey this week when porters at the Wagah border distributed sweets because a consignment of 400 bags of garlic was transported to Lahore, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday. “The Wagah Joint Check-post was thrown open for Indo-Pakistan trade after a long gap of five decades on Tuesday. Earlier, Indo-Pakistan trade was continuing through the stalled Samjhauta Express railway link.”

Pakistani officials said the move followed a decision in May by Islamabad when it allowed a clutch of goods and commodities to be imported from India on trucks, including horticulture produce and beef as well as livestock. On Monday though, the first consignment consisting of 757 bags of garlic was sent across the border through the Wagah checkpost, according to the Customs Department.

“With the opening of the route for trade, hundreds of porters and their kin who were sitting idle in border villages can look forward to job opportunities,” Press Trust of India said.

Local exporters in Amritsar have been receiving a lot of queries from their Pakistani counterparts for fresh vegetables and livestock since May. Two containers of mutton have been booked. The rail link was not considered feasible enough as fresh vegetables used to rot on the way.

While there has been some trade by rail, it was the first time in 50 years that the trade was being conducted by road. Trucks were being loaded with onions and tomatoes in India on Wednesday, waiting to be ferried across the frontier.

Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath says more steps would be taken to boost bilateral trade. Officials estimated bilateral trade between India and Pakistan at around $380 million in 2004.

However, barriers to commerce cemented by more than half a century of hostility spurs trade into costly detours via third destinations such as Afghanistan or Dubai.

Our Lahore reporter adds: Another 265 truckloads of horticulture products — 111 of vegetables and 154 of fruits — arrived from India on Wednesday. This was in addition to 800 bags of garlic and 400 bags of potatoes that arrived a day earlier.

The arrivals, however, failed to ease prices of fruits and vegetables in Lahore so far. According to market sources, 23 truckloads of potatoes, 28 of onion, two of ginger, 16 of tomatoes, two of garlic and four trucks of miscellaneous vegetables arrived here on second day of trade between India and Pakistan through Wagah.

Similarly, 120 trucks of mangoes, four of peaches, two of apricot, two of banana and 20 trucks of miscellaneous fruits hit local markets in Lahore.

However, the new arrivals failed to reduce prices of fruits and vegetables in the local markets. Importers still seem to be dictating market. “Prices will decline only if imports become a regular feature,” says Shamoon Sadiq, CEO of Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Board. People are still not confident that much imports are on the cards. There has not been any massive arrival either because of lack of any infrastructure at Wagah to handle huge imports, he said.

Mansoor Arifeen, chief executive of the Punjab Agriculture Marketing Company (PamCo) said that trade must be on reciprocal basis if it had to benefit common man. One way trade will be of little utility. Pakistani traders should be given a chance to make some money through export.

Vehicular traffic should also be allowed in limited space on both sides to cut loading and off-loading cost.