KARACHI: The smuggling through porous border of Afghanistan is increasing day by day and the government is doing nothing to curb smuggling.
According to rough estimates, the smuggling or undocumented trade through Pak-Afghan border is causing over $3 billion annual loss to Pakistan’s economy and the figure is still increasing.
In the past couple of months, after the December school attack, the government has tried to improve the security on the border. However, nothing has changed for the good of Pakistan’s economy.
Industries and businesses have been relentlessly demanding a strong clampdown against smuggling, especially against the institutionalised one under the Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA).
A few months ago, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and his counterpart in Afghanistan agreed to take documented bilateral trade between the two countries to $5 billion in two to three years. The current official trade between the two neighbours is over $2.5 billion.
