Punjab Trade Hubs Bear the Brunt of India-Pak Conflict

Industries reel, migrants depart, and political voices demand relief. A ground report from Attari, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar by Sarthak Choudhury

- Sarthak Choudhury

Ranveer Uppal (name changed) remembers when Attari railway station thrummed with life. At 67, he has spent a lifetime at this landmark, which sits closer to Lahore than to Amritsar. From this edge of India, he has been witness to handshakes and hostilities, hopes and heartbreaks.

Until 2019, Uppal was among the many workers who made their living at the Attari railway station. That year, trade between India and Pakistan ground to a halt in the wake of the Pulwama terrorist attack and the abrogation of Article 370. Nearly 5,000 workers, including Uppal, were rendered jobless.

Since then, he has clung on—eking out a livelihood from the trickle of cross-border trade that continued through the Integrated Check Post (ICP), a kilometre away. But now, following fresh hostilities between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, even that lifeline appears frayed. "I've seen many things here (in Attari) in my life. But this time, the hopelessness—the dejection—on the faces of those who left, that was something else," Uppal said, standing near rusted gates that once opened to Pakistan-bound trains. "A number of people, mostly migrants who worked at the border, have gone back. This appears to be the final nail in the coffin for them."