Tariq Saeed Peshawar
The ordeal of the traders’ community finally came to an end when the Pak-Afghan Border at Torkham was opened on Saturday after six days.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan have opened Torkham border crossing at Torkham for cargo vehicles after 6 days”. The officials said adding the decision was taken during a meeting of the Pakistani and Afghan officials on Saturday.
In fact the suspension of bilateral trade at the border crossing caused a loss of 270 million rupees to the country’s exchequer in terms of taxes. The officials at the border confirmed.
It may be recalled that the all-important Pak-Afghan border at Torkham crossing was opened Friday partially enabling the stranded people on both sides of the border to cross into their respective countries as the Pakistani and Afghan officials had on Friday agreed to opening border crossing for pedestrians in the first phase.
However, border continued to remain closed for the thousands of cargo trucks, many of them containing perishable commodities, lined up on the border. Likewise as the officials said the Afghan nationals had been allowed to cross into Afghanistan, while only Pakistanis stranded on other side of the border were allowed to return to Pakistan
The business community however, took sigh of relief with the opening of the border for the vehicular traffic and the resumption of the traded activities between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
