Sub-continental peace moves have led to a new buzz at this frontier check post and it could soon turn into the bleating of goats and the grunting of buffaloes as Pakistan prepares to import livestock from India. 

The Pakistan government has approved the setting up of four quarantine centres and as many as 30-40 could come up in the next few months depending on the ability of Indian suppliers to deliver meat on hoof, traders said.

Each of these quarantine centres will be able to hold up to 10,000 animals, which will be kept there for 15 days to a month before health experts certify they are disease-free.

Pakistan May 3 permitted the duty free import from India of five food items - meat/live animals, potatoes, tomatoes, onion and garlic - through the land route.

The decision means that traditional trade between the Lahore and Amritsar markets via the Wagah border, which had been moribund for long, will come alive once again.

It also means that Wagah will no longer be known only for the Beating Retreat ceremony every evening when border guards of the two countries lower the Indian and Pakistani flags at sunset.

Pakistan decided to import food items from India as these would were cheaper than at home and in other countries of the region.

For instance, of the 11 items reviewed by Pakistan's Price Control Committee, nine were priced 15-50 percent higher in Islamabad than in New Delhi.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is upbeat about the trading that would take place through the land route.

"We can supply them wheat at Rs.670 per quintal instead of the Rs.1,800 rate at which they have been importing it so far," he said in Chandigarh.

For the moment though the focus is on livestock imports and Pakistan's ministry of food, agriculture and livestock has invited private parties to set up quarantine centres at the border.

The ministry has promised fast track approval so that traders do not suffer once imports begin.

Pakistan's commerce ministry has decided to waive duties on imports from India to bring down prices in the domestic market.

"Pakistanis are voracious meat eaters and once prices come down the demand will obviously go up," said a trader here gleefully.

Traders in Amritsar, 30 km from Wagah, said their counterparts in Lahore and other places in Pakistan had sounded them out about supplying livestock and other items since they would be placing big orders.

"Traders in Amritsar and other parts of Punjab are gearing up to meet the requirements from Pakistan. This will bring good profits to traders from India and also benefit Pakistan, as it would get cheaper goods," Amritsar merchant Anil Sharma told IANS.

Official India-Pakistan trade is at a minuscule $600 million, up from $245 million in 2000-01. Unofficial trade via the Middle East accounts for  $1 billion more.

Indian officials say that direct trade between the two countries has the potential to rise to $5 billion.

--Indo-Asian News Service