Fruit growers in occupied Jammu and Kashmir have called for opening of trade routes via Azad Jammu and Kashmir for the apple and other businesses with the outside world.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the fruit growers, on Monday, closed the fruit market in protest against Modi government’s unannounced economic blockade by halting thousands of trucks laden with apple on Srinagar-Jammu highway for past 20 days.

The Kashmiri traders said India is using the closure of the highway as a tactic to let their fruit worth millions of rupees rot.

Chairman, Sopore Fruit Mandi, Zahoor Ahmad Butt have advised all fruit growers of the Kashmir Valley to slow down the process of apple harvesting to avoid more losses.

It is worth mentioning here that the apple industry, worth Rs 8000 crore, is the backbone of Jammu and Kashmir’s economy. As many as 3.5 million people are directly or indirectly associated with the fruit business.

Meanwhile, All India Congress party, Communist Party of India and Aam Aadmi Party in their statements said that a deliberate attempt was being made on part of the Modi government to destroy the fruit industry in Kashmir.

They said the plight of apple growers is pathetic as the Kashmiri farmers go unheard while foreign fruit has been given access to the market without any taxes.

Source: Radio Pakistan