KP traders irked by 'mismanagement' at Pak-Afghan border

PESHAWAR: Despite the federal government's permission to open Pak-Afghan border crossings at Torkham and Chaman, Afghan transit trade and export vehicles aren't being cleared to enter Pakistan due to the alleged difficulties created by the border management, it was learnt on Saturday.

According to sources, Afghan traders had last week cancelled more than 5,000 containers booked for Torkham border and shifted them to Iran's Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports. Owing to the alleged mismanagement at Torkham and Chaman crossings, Pak-Afghan trade was dying a slow death, rendering millions of people unemployed, besides causing a heavy loss to the government exchequer, they added.

Talking to Profit, Frontier Customs Agents Association (FCAA) President Ziaul Haq Sarhadi noted that coronavirus had caused heavy economic losses worldwide during the last three months, including more than Rs3,000 billion loss to the Pakistani economy. In such a situation, he said, emergency efforts were required to provide relief to traders so that trade activities could be revived.

Sarhadi lamented that around 6,500 containers of Afghan transit trade were parked at Karachi port owing to coronavirus. "Despite the government opening the border 24/7 after ending the lockdown, the goods have not been cleared as yet, while the shipping companies are charging hefty detention fees from Afghan traders," he claimed.

He suggested that the Frontier Corps should be given the responsibility to manage the border so that the goods were cleared within 24 hours.    

"Earlier, only 10 per cent cargo was being checked at Karachi port, but now all of the cargo goes through the checking process. This is a time-consuming activity and should be avoided." 

He said the FBR-Director General Transit Trade has further complicated the issue by making it mandatory for containers to be scanned at the borders. "The scanners at the Afghan border can only scan up to 50 containers per day, thus the trade vehicles have to wait for weeks at border points." 

Meanwhile, Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Senior Vice President Shahid Hussain stated that all departments were present at Torkham border, "and if they want, they can easily resolve all the traders' problems".  

Hussain urged the government to make the import/export clearance process easier, adding that drivers of transit vehicles should be allowed to take goods up to Kandahar and Kabul. 

"The National Logistic Cell has installed scanners [at borders] and they claim it is their responsibility to scan the vehicles. On the other hand, customs' officials claim that only they have the authority to issue clearance letters. This confusion is only wasting the time of traders. Under the Import and Export Agreement and the Customs Act, the authority of all departments has been clarified, but it needs proper implementation," he added.