Pak-Afghan border reopens for pedestrians; exporters face huge losses as crossing still shut for vehicles

Peshawar, Feb 24 (PTI) The Pakistani government on Friday reopened for pedestrians the Pakistan-Afghanistan Torkham border, but the crossing is still inaccessible for over 7,000 trucks laden with goods, including perishable items like vegetables, poultry, and eggs, stranded for the last five days due to the closure of the crossing point.

The movement of cargo vehicles is still restricted, security sources said.

Afghan and Pakistani citizens can cross the border by foot to their respective countries after the Pakistani government on Friday afternoon opened the crossing point for pedestrians.

The sources said the Pakistani government will likely open the border for vehicular traffic on Saturday afternoon.

Director Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, said the closure of the border would inflict enormous losses to exporters and businessmen if the Pakistan government did not open the gate.

The Torkham border crossing -- a vital commercial artery and a trade route for Pakistan to Central Asian countries -- was shut by the Afghan Taliban on Sunday after Islamabad accused Kabul of providing safe havens to the Pakistan Taliban militants whose cross-border attacks have led to a spike in violence in the country.

The Afghan government opened its gate at the border crossing point on Thursday.

The stoppage of containers on the way to Afghanistan is inflicting demurrage charges to exporters in thousands of rupees on a daily basis besides the concern of the rotting up of perishable items.

Every container of sugar is being charged a demurrage of Rs 45,000 daily while the container filled with transit goods is charged USD 160 per day as detention charges.

Similarly, every truck is fined Rs 6,000 on daily basis as a holding charge. Zia also said that the export quota of sugar to Afghanistan would expire in 45 days, with only twenty days left, and the business community would face huge losses if urgent measures were not taken.

The Afghan side on Thursday opened the gate but it remained closed from the Pakistani side, causing concern among businessmen and other stakeholders of the Pak-Afghan trade.

Closure of the border is not only inflicting losses in millions of rupees to the national exchequer but also creating a lot of problems for ailing Afghans who want to come here for treatment.

Zia demanded that Pakistan authorities open the border at the earliest so that stuck-up goods-laden trucks could proceed to their destination besides providing opportunities for thousands of people to cross the border on both sides. PTI AYZ PY PY PY