PESHAWAR: A delegation of businessmen, during a consultation with the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Malik Amjad Zubair Tawana at Custom House Peshawar, urged him to take effective measures to curb smuggling instead of imposing restrictions on Pak-Afghan trade.
The delegation was jointly led by Coordinator Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi and President Khyber Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Syed Jawad Hussain Kazmi, said a press statement issued here on Saturday.
On this occasion, Chief Collector Customs KP, Saeed Akram, Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue Peshawar, Zafar Iqbal Khan, Member Inland Revenue FBR Islamabad, Mir Badshah Wazir, Collector Custom Enforcement, Khawaja Khurram Naeem, Collector Customs Appraisement, Amjad ur Rehman, Director Transit Trade, Arbab Qaiser Hameed, Second Secretary Afghan Consulate Peshawar, Tahir Nafees, First Consul Consulate General Iran, Hussain Malki, Afghan Commercial Attache, Waheed Ullah and Director PAJCCI, Imtiaz Ahmad Ali were also present. They told the Chairman FBR that through trade with Afghanistan, Pakistan can also get access to markets of Central Asian Republics (CARs) and the imposition of a ban on this important route would prove detrimental to the country’s economy in the longer run. Speaking on the occasion, Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi said the bone of contention in the Pak-Afghan trade is smuggling which can be stopped effectively through increasing monitoring and vigilance at border points.
While imposition of a ban on trade to curb smuggling is not a suitable approach and is proving detrimental regarding the expansion of commerce and trade at the regional level with the scope of capturing CAR’s markets. Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi who is also President of Frontier Custom Clearing Agents Association, recalled a similar decision taken around 18 years earlier about the imposition of ban on 17 items for trade with Afghanistan. The decision caused a loss of around Rs. Three billion on annual basis to Pakistan Railways under the head of freight while all those banned items found the ways to Afghanistan through flights from UAE and then penetrated in Pakistani markets through smuggling, Zia claimed.
The similar practice, he continued, was repeated on October 3, 2023, when the Ministry of Commerce through issuing SRO 1380 imposed a ban on 14 items which in detail became 212 different items of daily use. In the same way through another SRO 1387, a 10 per cent processing fee on transit cargo has been enforced besides the imposition of a 100 percent bank guarantee.
Earlier, transit cargo was going under insurance guarantee and during the last 13 years around one million containers crossed Afghanistan from Pakistan smoothly, Zia continued. He said that hundreds of trucks were carrying different goods including petroleum products, edible goods, cigarettes, auto parts etc from Iran on daily basis. Even then, no proper measures are being taken to curb this smuggling which is inflicting huge damage to the national economy, he said. Zia said that frequent closure of Pak-Afghan trade was creating a lot of problems for the business community, exporters, importers and transporters, adding that the delay in clearance of goods-laden trucks had become a routine practice, burdening the business community with extra payment of demurrage and detention charges.
He also stressed on timely completion of Border Terminal being undertaken by National Logistics Cell (NLC).
After completion of the terminal, local people of the area should be given job on priority basis as promised with them, Zia continued. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman FBR, Malik Amjad Zubair Tawana apprised the businessmen about measures being taken for provision of ease of doing business to them.
He said the country is passing through a difficult phase and every individual has to play his role for bringing the economy out of this quagmire of slump. He said the government is giving due attention to stabilizing the economy and on promotion of commerce and trade and for this purpose all possible measures would be taken.
