KHYBER: Transporters and traders suffered for the third consecutive day on Monday due to the suspension of Pak-Afghan trade on Torkham border as authorities of the two countries failed to sort out the issue of visa restrictions for transporters.

All types of import and export activities came to a halt on Saturday when Pakistan banned the entry of Afghan drivers without valid travel documents.

Afghan authorities later slapped the same ban on Pakistani transporters.

Transporters from both sides enjoyed leniency in their cross-border movement until Saturday as theywere allowed to travel only on their passports with no visas.

Pakistani immigration and intelligenceagencies officials insisted that the relaxation in legal travel documents was grossly misused by Afghan drivers and their assistants as a sizable number of suspected people had infiltratedinto the country in the garb of transporters.

Both countries fail to resolve issue of visa restrictions for transporters

They told Dawn that this time around, the ban was strict and no leniency would be shown to anyone to check the entry of suspected people to Pakistan.

Transporters from both sides said that their passports were a legal document and could be used for personal identification as these were mostly machine readable documents.

Transporters said that the three days of border closure for bilateral trade had subjected them to numerous problems and most them had run out of cash for food, water and shelter.

They also said they had to keep a constant watch over their vehicles loaded with goods for fear of theft in the daytime and at night with cold weather multiplying their woes.

Meanwhile, representatives of the Khyber Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Torkham Customs Clearing Agents Association held a meeting at Torkham on Monday and expressed concern about the continued closure of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Demanding an immediate resumption of import and export via the Torkham and Kharlaachi borders, they suggested the establishment of an immigration counter at the zero point for on-the-spot visa issuance to transporters of both countries in order to removeany legal hiccups in timely acquisitions of travel documents.

Traders and clearing agents said that the continued closure of border points for trade was depriving Pakistan of a lucrative market for its export goods.

They added that there was a “danger” of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan capturing that market.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2024