PESHAWAR: The opening of Ghulam Khan Customs Check-Post at North Waziristan Agency with Afghanistan was again postponed for unknown reasons, said Customs officials on Monday at the MCC Peshawar.
The Ghulam Khan check-post remained closed since four years that affected Pakistan-Afghanistan business ties and resulted in loss of billions of dollars to the revenue of national exchequer.
The MCC Peshawar told Customs Today on Monday that it was need of the hour to reopen all the customs stations once peace is established in FATA due to great loss to business community and national exchequer.
Collector Customs at MCC Peshawar Qurban Ali Khan has said that in order to reduce pressure on Torkham Transit route it was vital to open certain other check-posts which were not operational to increase the yield of business with Afghanistan.
The Ghulam Khan check-post will help the traders and transporters to increase their trade activities with Afghanistan due to less traffic on the route as compared to Torkham Transit route which serves as an only route which connects business ties with Afghanistan, he added.
The point to ponder is that the Ghulam Khan check-post was closed in 2014 to facilitate the military operation Zarb-i-Azb but despite establishment of peace, the customs station remained closed for extra two years for which the people demanded the reopening of the check-post.
Now that Army has completed another operation and it was decided by the political administration, traders and local elders of North Waziristan and officials of Pakistan Army in a Jirga that the said check-post will be reopened for trade purposes and date was also announced.
Due to unknown reason, the authorities have said the process to reopen the Ghulam Khan Customs check-post was not completed on July 3.
Senior Vice-President of Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi also expressed worries over the decision to postpone the opening of Ghulam Khan Check-Post as the total trade with Afghanistan has decreased from 1.5 billion dollars to 1 billion dollar in the last six months.
Due to worst conditions on borders despite that the World’s Custom Organization has declared 2017 as ‘The Year of Border Management’ to facilitate the trading. The governments of both countries need to take serious actions in order to rescue the border according to the international standards.
