THE decision by the Apex Committee to enforce established international rules and norms that regulate entry and exit of foreign nationals into a country, strictly through documentation, was long overdue. The Apex leadership must be complimented for their courage and determination to take the ull by its horn and deserve appreciation of all citizens, across the political divide. Only those foreigners holding valid passports and visas should have been allowed to enter Pakistan for a specified period of time, allowed indulging in activities depending on the status and category of the visa they possess. A state that fails to ensure the sanctity of its borders, is a state that is bound to end in chaos, leading to breakdown of law and order, economic collapse and insecurity for its own citizens.
The primary responsibility of a state is the security, welfare and collective economic interests of their own citizens, living within secured borders, free from threats of terrorism and extremism. This was the objective which motivated the political struggle for the creation of Pakistan and establishment of a modern democratic welfare state for all its citizens, irrespective of their caste, creed, faith etc. Unfortunately, the myopic vision of those who took over reins of this country after the sad and unfortunate demise of Quaid-i-Azam and the intrigues of ambitious men like Iskandar Mirza and Ayub Khan, who created hurdles in the political process, resulted in the democratic welfare state reduced to a country performing client services for the West.
The manner in which the territorial sovereignty has been compromised by those at helm since 1958, reached its zenith when Zia got this country involved in proxy wars and opened our borders to give sanctuary to foreigners of all shades and nationalities, and since then the internal haemorrhaging of our economy and threats to security of citizens of Pakistan has been on rise. The Kalashnikov and drug menace poses a threat for our future and present generations. There should be no doubt about the links and involvement of illegal Afghans in illegal practices, including smuggling of drugs in connivance with few traders and government employees, hostage to their greed. Billions earned in the illicit drug trade, funds terrorism in Pakistan.
Such nefarious activities have landed this country into a royal mess of its own making. The unchecked smuggling of essential food items that are produced in Pakistan has upset the balance between “Supply and Demand” of basic food chain, creating artificial shortages, which have resulted in spiraling food inflation, poverty, hunger and miseries for over 9.5 crore citizens of this country who earn less than $3.65 per day. The irregularities and abuse in Afghan Transit trade has created an annual estimated burden of over $11 to 13 billion on Pakistan National Exchequer. Yet every civil or dictatorial regime in Pakistan chose to ignore this threat to our national security and economy.
The decision which the Apex Committee has taken now should have been taken at least 25 years back. However, better late than never. All it would have taken, for those at the helm of affairs, since 2000 onwards, was to visit markets and shopping plazas flooded with smuggled goods. Yet every government, hostage to their conflicts of interest, chose to ignore this abuse, which was beneficial for those involved in retail and wholesale trade of these non-custom paid goods. Smuggled luxury vehicles are a common sight, not just in Balochistan and former FATA, now merged in KPK, but in other major towns and cities of Pakistan. The quantum and enormity of the scale of this illegal trade proves the connivance of those employed by the state at secured border check-posts to prevent this illegality. The decision taken by the Apex Committee not to spare anybody, court martial them if applicable, must be welcomed.
This country has been meeting its moral and international obligation to facilitate transit trade for landlocked Afghanistan, but unfortunately it has been abused. Smuggling under the garb of Transit Trade has had a devastating impact upon the economy of this country. Pakistan, in the interim period, has become a victim of terrorism, radicalization, drug trafficking and unchecked smuggling. There is an established link of illegal Afghan citizens and the unregulated Transit Trade, who were allowed to enter and leave multiple times, with no record, or documentation. Unfortunately, those entrusted to hold key assignments, both paid and elected, betrayed their oath of office.
Pakistan has since become a sanctuary for men of all shades and nationalities to live here without any documentation and record. There is hardly any country in the world where a foreigner can enter without a visa stamped on their passport, or which allows them to form private armed militias, or be involved in unchecked smuggling across borders and destroy future generations through drugs and radicalization. Even the curse of under-invoicing indulged by a few of our traders is in connivance with Afghans, who presumably should only be involved in transit trade. Our Trade Attaches posted abroad cannot be absolved of their failure to stop these illegalities.
Yet all this continued for decades, till finally a few men with courage, determination and commitment decided to stand up and publicly declare to stop this. It is an established fact that Afghanistan’s total annual exports are approximately $1.5 to two billion while its imports are in the range of over $8 billion. It is a country under international sanction with hardly any known foreign exchange reserves. Almost $6 billion of these imports are being funded by foreign exchange acquired mostly from drug trafficking or buying from unchecked open market money changers in Pakistan or the Hundi system. The bulk of these imports are smuggled across the border back into Pakistan. We have suffered a lot because of allegations of money laundering etc., and sanctions by the FATF.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
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