Tariq Saeed Peshawar
Torkham border at Khyber tribal district was eventually opened Friday after a closure of nine days allowing crossing of the pedestrians and vehicles from both Pakistan and Afghanistan, a decision welcomed by the business communities of both countries who suffered colossal losses during this period.
“Pakistan and Afghanistan has officially reopened, allowing all forms of traffic to resume”. Officials said adding trucks are currently undergoing clearance procedures, and Afghan citizens are entering Afghanistan after
completing immigration processes.
The Pak-Afghan border at Torkham, it may be recalled, was temporarily closed on September 6 following an armed clash between the Pak-Army led security forces and the Afghan forces that resorted to naked aggression by attempting to set up check post in the restricted area. The closure of the border, however, caused huge losses to the business community that claimed it has suffered around 900 million rupees colossal loss in eight days standoff.
Security official in Torkham disclosed that a series of discussions between Pakistani and Afghan officials led to the resolution of the issue and the subsequent reopening of the border. With the border now open, pedestrian movement has been restarted, attracting hundreds of travellers to the immigration area for entry into Afghanistan.
Closure of Torkham border for passage of all kind of traffic between Pakistan and Afghanistan for the last nine days has caused lining up of thousands trucks laden with goods in both the countries. The number of stranded trucks were more than 2000 to around 2500 and because of season of fresh fruit export to Pakistan a huge quantity of perishable goods loaded in trucks including fresh fruits like grapes, banana, citrus, melon dew and vegetable like lady finger, tomato have become rot. Director Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PAJCCI), Zia ul Haq Sarhadi had said the situation had rendering colossal losses to the importers and exporters from both sides.
