Full trade through Ghulam Khan and Kharlachi borders sought

PESHAWAR: Businessmen dealing in Pak-Afghan trade have demanded the government to open Ghulam Khan and Kharlachi border points with Afghanistan for full commercial activities due to of excessive transportation burden at the Torkham border post.

In a joint press statement, the Coordinator for the Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, and former senior vice president of Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Engr Manzoor Elahi said due to the closure of the Chaman border for the last three months and limited operation at the Ghulam Khan and Kharlachi

border posts, all the load of the trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been shifted to Torkham border.

They said excessive transportation of goods from Torkham to Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics (CARs) led to prolonged travel duration of goods-laden trucks from 10 days to around one and a half months and excessive increase in charges.

Transportation charges of trucks nowadays have been hiked to an exorbitant level of Rs 1.1 million because of prolonged travel duration, making it almost impossible for businessmen to bear the expense, they pointed out.

Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi said a truck carrying goods to Afghanistan returned to Pakistan after around 45 days and the owners now preferred transportation within the country instead of sending their vehicles to Afghanistan, creating an acute shortage of vehicles.

He said the Chaman border was closed for the last three months, Kharlachi point was confined to only import and export operations, not allowing transportation of transit goods, while the Ghulam Khan border was operational only for a few hours till 5:00 pm.

Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi said in such circumstances, all the burden had been shifted to Torkham, resulting in congestion of traffic, prolonged travel duration, and exorbitant increase in transportation charges.

Zia Sarhadi and Manzoor suggested for shifting the entry of trucks carrying soapstone and coal from Afghanistan to Kharlachi and Ghulam Khan.