India tells Pak to find consignor of narcotics

As trade and travel across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir remained suspended, New Delhi asked Islamabad to find out the consignor of the narcotics that was caught while being smuggled in.

New Delhi has also proposed to hold a meeting of the India-Pakistan Joint Working Group on the trans-LoC Confidence Building Measures in the second week of February.

The arrest of a Pakistani driver for his alleged role in smuggling narcotics into India had triggered the stand-off on January 17. Indian law-enforcement officials arrested the Pakistani driver following recovery of 110 packets of brown sugar from his truck after it crossed the LoC.

Pakistani authorities reacted by refusing to allow 27 Indian trucks to return from across the LoC. They also did not allow 48 Pakistani trucks to return from India and even suspended bus services across the LoC between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. 

New Delhi on Tuesday prodded Islamabad to conduct an investigation to find out who had sent the consignment of narcotics from Pakistan to India. “Pakistan (authorities) must also share with us information with regard to their investigations of the consigner of these drugs,” said Syed Akbaruddin, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi.