Transporters halt Kabul-bound supplies

The transporters have halted every kind of supplies to Afghanistan due to frequent attacks on the trucks and containers carrying goods to Afghanistan and other adjoining areas. “Supplies to Afghanistan via Khyber Pass have been stopped due to insecurity,” remarked President Transporters Association Shakir Afridi while talking to The Nation on telephone.

He said all trucks and containers plying between the two countries had been parked and the owners were unwilling to continue the operation. Afridi said, on the one hand the unknown miscreants were targeting the containers with rockets, missiles and improvised explosive devices, while on the other drivers, conductors and other staffers were being killed. On such grounds, he said, it was very difficult for transporters to continue service between the two countries.

Afridi termed the halting of supplies to Afghanistan harmful to the interests of the country, particularly for those who were engaged in the Afghan Transit Trade. Afridi said most of the tribesmen had been dependent on trade and business activities between the two neighbouring countries since a long time. He said that halting of the trade could affect most of the tribal regions.

Executive Committee Member of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (SCCI) Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, also Chairman of Frontier Customs Clearing Agent, said that halting of transit trade with Afghanistan could be a blow to the whole country. He while elaborating his point of view said that right from Karachi to Torkham, thousands of people were earning their livelihood through transit trade. Similarly, it was generating billion of rupees for the national exchequer, he added. Sarhadi also informed that the Afghan traders had shifted their investments from Peshawar and other parts of the region to other countries.

NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain when contacted said that according to Transit Trade agreement, Pakistan was bound to ensure safety to all goods and vehicles. In that respect, he said, NWFP government initiated some steps for protection of the goods and vehicles. He said that so far FC contingents were deployed on Ring Road for the protection of terminals, which were under frequent attacks of the militants. Several other steps are also under consideration, the NWFP Minister added. “Definitely transit trade could be diverted to Iran and Central Asian Republics in case of continued attacks,” Mian Iftikhar said while answering a question.