Afghan resistance suspends Dosti bus service between Peshawar, Jalalabad

Cross-border travellers are facing issues as bus service between Afghanistan’s Jalalabad and Pakistan’s Peshawar city remains suspended for the past two months due to pressure by the Afghanistan government.

Popularly known as Pak-Afghan Dosti Bus Service, the transport facility was initiated about eleven years ago between the two countries. Reportedly, breadwinners of over 1,000 families are out of jobs, since the bus service through the Torkham crossing has been suspended.

Federal Joint Secretary Firdous Alam and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Transport Akhtar Nawaz had inaugurated the bus service in May 2006 which supports nearly 1,000 cross-border travellers on a daily basis.

After tensions between the two countries were defused at Torkham border, army and other security agencies had permitted the movement through the service but some elements in Afghanistan government are resisting.

Sources said that at least 13 buses are parked and not functioning for the past two months.

Unprovoked firing by Afghan forces at Torkham last month had claimed an army major’s life. Tensions between the two countries escalated as Afghanistan opposed construction of a gate by Pakistan Army to check cross-border movement.

The installation of a gate was initiated by the army more than 30 metres within Pakistan’s territory. According to the ISPR, the gate will deter movement of operatives of extremist outfits from Afghanistan into Pakistan. However, the governments stroke a consensus over the construction after around a week of intermittent firing.