NEW DELHI -- After more than 60 years, trade resumed Tuesday across the de facto border dividing the Indian and Pakistani parts of the disputed region of Kashmir.
Sixteen Indian trucks, loaded mostly with apples and walnuts, rumbled across on Tuesday morning. Trucks from Pakistan were expected to make the reverse trip later, likely bearing rice and raisins. Trade initially is limited to 21 approved items and two days a week.
On their long journey of rivalry and reconciliation, the decision to reopen the trade crossing came out of a meeting last month between President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
The resumption of trade is meant to bolster confidence between the rival nations and open contact between ordinary Kashmiris separated by the six decades of conflict.
NEW YORK TIMES
