Hundreds of trucks are lined up at the key border-crossing in Chaman with drivers now stuck with their cargo for the last six days. The border was most recently closed after armed men on the Afghan side crossed over and fired at security personnel on the Pakistan side of the Friendship (FS) Gate, with one casualty on the Pakistan side.
“Around 1,500 load containers are at the border under the Pakistan-Afghan Transit Trade, Agreement” Chaman Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice President Haji Muhammad Qaseem told Aaj News. It facilitates the transit of goods exported from and imported to Afghanistan using the Pakistani port of Karachi.
“Another 700 empty containers are stuck on the Afghan side. The trucks are owned by Pakistanis. Then there are the drivers and helpers on these vehicles.”
Efforts to reopen the border have so far failed with Pakistan demanding that Afghanistan hand over the suspected shooter. Afghanistan said they are unaware of his identity.
While there remains a deadlock on movement of cargo-laden goods, the two border authorities decided to allow flow of people on humanitarian grounds. it was decided that the border would be opened for three hours for three days to facilitate strander citizens, particularly patients, to move across the border. On Wednesday, at least 9,500 Pakistanis returned home and 7,500 Afghans returned to Afghanistan.
The border, however, remains closed for all trade activity and for movement barring the three-hour window. Sources say the Pakistan has communicated to the Taliban government that the matter will now be discussed on the government level between Kabul and Islamabad.
Qaseem, of the Chaman trade body, said that suspension of trade was affecting not only locals but the entire country.
Afghans use the border crossing to travel to hospitals in Lahore and Karachi for treatment. Families also live on either side of the border which has a shared culture and language.
Abdullah told Aaj Digital that his daughter, who shifted across the border after marriage, was unwell and had to travel to Pakistan for treatment. “But the border isn’t re-opening.”
The Chaman border is the main crossing for Afghanistan transit trade, along with export and import between the two countries. Pakistan’s major exports to Afghanistan include rice, cement and pharmaceuticals, with major imports being raw cotton and fruits.
There are numerous items in the trucks for Afghan transit trade from different countries. Here are some of them:
Qaseem was of the view that it was difficult to estimate the losses after the suspension of trade as $100 to $200 daily is the detention rate (money charged by the foreign shipping line from the payee for the each day the container is not returned) or rent of one container or truck.
Halting charge (truckers will charge an hourly halting charge when they do not receive cargo within six hours of loading time at the loading site, or when the cargo isn’t unloaded within the allotted reporting time at the unloading site) was being imposed on export vehicles, in addition to the expenses of stranded drivers in Afghanistan.
The shipping comapny gives 14 days to the exporter/importer to get the cargo delivered and return the empty container. This means travelling from the Karachi port to the Chaman border and back. Every day after that, the exporter/importer incurs a cost.
“The revenue collected by our Customs Department is zero. It has also stopped,” he said.
The Chaman chamber, which met here today on the issue, urged authorities to summon a high-level meeting between decision makers in Kabul and Islamabad at the earliest. It demanded immediate solution to the November 13 incident so that the ‘brotherly ties’ between the two countries stay strong.
The chamber’s vice president said that he had received assurance from local officials, including the district commissioner, of the re-opening of the border ‘in the coming days’.
