SHAMIM SHAHID
Transporters and drivers on both sides of the Durand Line have gone on a strike against what they have called ‘unjustified and unwanted imposition of taxes and fines’. As a result of the strike, hundreds of trucks and containers loaded with goods are stranded on both sides of Pak-Afghan border. The queue of these trucks and containers, most loaded with edible items, stretches as far as Hayatabad on the Peshawar-Torkham Highway.
Relations between Pakistan and its westerly neighbour Afghanistan have not been friendly for the past few years, to say the least, but it has finally started affecting bilateral trade and transportation. The recent episode in this series of events comes in the form of imposition of taxes and fines by Afghan authorities on truck drivers who are transporting goods and on those who commute people between the countries.
The Afghan government has imposed tax worth Rs. 11,000/- against each truck engaged in transportation of goods between the two countries. In a response, Pakistani authorities have also started imposing a fine of Rs. 2,000/- on each driver and his helper who enter Pakistan without valid travelling documents.
President of Transporters Association, Khyber Agency, Jehanzeb Afridi, when contacted by Pakistan Today, said, “We are observing strike against imposition of taxes by Afghan government and collection of fine by Pakistani authorities.” He termed the imposition of taxes and fines unjustified as the step was impacting the people engaged in bilateral trade between the two countries, which mostly happen to be from Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA).
Beside transporters and drivers, tribesmen on both sides of the border are also feeling the pinch as certain checks have been placed on their centuries old tradition of free movement across the border. Pakistani authorities at Torkham border have notified a ban on those crossing the border without passport with a valid visa from 31 January, 2017. In this respect, Jehanzeb Afridi said, “It seems hard for tribesmen to honour such a decision.”
This comes in a string of actions that have deteriorated relations between the two Muslim countries of the region. Afghanistan and India both blamed Pakistan for terrorism and unrest in Afghanistan in the Sixth Heart of Asia Conference in India only 10 days ago. In June, encounters between border security forces of both the countries caused heavy losses of lives on both sides.
