KHYBER: Trade with Afghanistan via Torkham came to a complete halt on Monday when agitated truckers and customs clearing agents closed the road leading to the border ‘Zero Point’ against imposition of the condition of Temporary Admission Document for transporters of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Protesters placed containers on the main road and burnt tyres to prevent movement of trade goods vehicles from either side of the border before staging a sit-in.

Hundreds of transporters, custom clearing agents, local traders and daily wagers gathered at the venue of protest and chanted slogans to demand abolishing of the TAD condition for transporters and easement in visa policy between the two neighbouring countries.

Pakistan and Afghanistan had agreed in March to introduce TAD for transporters of both the countries without passport and valid visa while making it mandatory for them to acquire the new temporary document for their cross-border movement.

Transporters, however, argued that they could neither afford the $100 registration fee of TAD, which was valid only for six months, nor they were furnished any detailed information about the procedure of availing the temporary document.

Qari Nazeemgul, a local trader and a leader of the protesters, told Dawn that their protest would continue till abolition of TAD condition and facilitation in the speedy clearance of trade goods at the customs terminal.

He said that unless the federal government reviewed its visa policy for traders and transporters, they would continue to boycott clearance of goods for Afghanistan and would not allow any trade convoy to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan.

Mirajuddin, chairman of Torkham Custom Clearing Agents Association, told Dawn that the imposition of TAD adversely affected bilateral trade with Afghanistan as local traders and industrialists had become reluctant to invest in trade with neighbouring countries.

He alleged that the anti-traders and anti-business policies of Islamabad had off late antagonised both the local and Afghan traders and transporters. Pakistan was fast losing its Afghan market for its export goods, he added.

The sit-in and forced suspension of custom clearance of trade goods from Pakistan side forced hundreds of truckers to park their vehicles along the road with many drivers complaining about rotting of edibles comprising fresh fruit, vegetables and poultry products.

The border crossing, however, remained opened for pedestrians. Only a limited number of nationals of both the countries crossed the border owing to non-availability of transport facility for their onward journey.

Islamabad has long been insisting that no leniency would be shown in its one document border policy with the immigration authorities insisting that only those with valid travel documents would be allowed to cross the border or enter Pakistan.

Customs and immigration authorities at Torkham had announced on august 1 that only transporters with TAD would be allowed to travel between the two countries while those without the document would be barred from crossing the border or coming to Pakistan.

The August 1 notification resulted in stranding hundreds of both loaded and empty vehicles on both sides of the border with many a transporters complaining about facing monetary hardship owing to a prolonged suspension of their movement.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024