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Ferozepur : After coming into prominence, however, now candidates of almost all political parties are claiming from every platform to reopen the Hussainiwala border for business, but no one is giving a guarantee for it. Now that the election manifesto is being promoted as a 'guarantee card' by all political parties, the non-guarantee of Hussainiwala shows the possibility of the politicians running for the last 53 years being merely a vote grabber.
On the other hand, every leader coming to campaign for the leaders from the Lok Sabha constituency Ferozepur headquarters may be promoting the issue of opening the Hussainiwala border in election promises and slogans, but the local leaders never tried to get the Hussainiwala border opened by the central rulers recently. It is worth mentioning that since the independence of India, trade and traffic with Pakistan has been happening through Attari-Wagah border of Amritsar, Hussainiwala of Ferozepur and Ganda Singhwala of Pakistan. After the Indo-Pak war of 1971, trade from Hussainiwala stopped so much that it could never start again. Old businessmen and common citizens of Ferozepur who are aware of the politics of the country believe that when the businessmen tried to open the Hussainiwala border, the business lobby of Amritsar approached the concerned political ruler and postponed the matter. He has been caught
Another surprising aspect was that from time to time, big politicians belonging to Ferozepur district, despite being very close to the central rulers of that time, kept favouring the business lobby of Amritsar. The current situation is that in the last few years, the sea traders have also started opposing Amritsar. In the year 2017, when the Government of India stopped trade with Pakistan from Amritsar's Attari-Wagah border, the faint hope of the people of Ferozepur about the Hussainiwala border was completely shattered. The traders of Ferozepur say that the Gujarat lobby, which trades with Pakistan through the sea route, is so dominant in the present times that now it is almost impossible to open the Hussainiwala border for trade.
Pakistani fruits and Afghani dry fruits used to come from Husainiwala
Ramesh Thind, the current owner of Chamba Mall Ganda Ram Thind, a company operating in the vegetable market of Ferozepur since 1935, said that before independence, the main route from Lahore to Delhi Bombay was via Ferozepur. Grapes, oranges, pomegranates and dry fruits from Pakistan and Afghanistan mostly came through this route. After the 1971 war, the trade from Hussainiwala in Ferozepur stopped due to unknown reasons, but it continued regularly from Amritsar.
If Balram Jakhar and Giani Zail Singh wanted, the border could have been opened
Traders of the local vegetable market told that after the border was closed in 1971, they contacted the then Prime Minister of the country, Mrs. Indira Gandhi and raised this issue several times, but whenever there was a movement, the matter was postponed. It has been put on hold under the pressure of some business lobbies. He said that apart from others, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi also had faith in Giani Zail Singh, who belonged to Ferozepur district, then Chaudhary Balram Jakhar had so much influence on Mrs. Indira Gandhi that he could do any work very fearlessly. In such a situation, who knows what was the compulsion of those people that they also did not give priority to open trade from the border of Punjab.
Sukhbir, Harsimrat and Atwal have also held important positions in the central government
When the era of Congress changed, first from 1997 to 2004 and later from 2014 to 2021, Akali Dal has also been a partner in the central government for a long time. During this period, Charanjit Singh Atwal was the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha while Harsimrat Kaur Badal was a cabinet minister at the center. Apart from this, late former Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh Badal, born in old Ferozepur, were also among the important partners of the central government.
Who is demanding opening of Hussainiwala border in the 2024 elections?
As soon as the issue of opening the Hussainiwala border came into discussion during the Lok Sabha elections, people from almost every political party are talking about opening the border. Currently, those who have promised to open the Hussainiwala border include Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Akali supremo Sukhbir Singh Badal, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Sher Singh Ghubaya, Nardev Singh Bobby Mann, Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar, Akali Dal's Jaskaran Singh Kahan Singh. Apart from Fateh Wala, many other leaders are also included.