Pak, Afghan govts urged to reopen trade routes

KHAR: A jirga of elders on Saturday asked the government to reopen the Pak-Afghan border at Nawa Pass point for trade to promote business ties between the two neighbouring countries.

The jirga sponsored by the Awami National Party (ANP) and held at Chinar in Charmang area of Nawagai tehsil was attended by elders and youths in a large number.

The participants urged both the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan to reopen all the border points for trade, cultural activities and programmes to further cement relations between the two brotherly countries.

ANP local leader Sheikh Jehanzada, Malik Attaullah Khan Lala, Nisar Baz, Qazi Abdul Manan, and Rahmanullah and others addressed the jirga.

The elders urged the Pak-Afghan governments to reopen the border points with Afghanistan at Nawa Pass, Ghakhi Pass, Laitai Pass and Kaga Pass to facilitate traders as shutting the border had inflicted heavy losses on the businesspeople of the two countries.

They believed that it was the economic murder of the people on both sides of the border to keep the routes between Pakistan and Afghanistan closed without any plausible reason.

The elders said that governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan should take joint steps to reopen the trade routes and facilitate the people and traders on both sides of the Durand Line.

The jirga also demanded the repatriation of cops performing duties with former lawmakers and bureaucrats outside the district and action against the substandard construction of Asghar to Nawa Pass road.