Bajaur traders want Pak-Afghan border points reopened

KHAR: The members of business community on Sunday asked the government and fellow businessmen in Punjab and elsewhere in the country to help provide them a conducive environment for the smooth trade activities in Bajaur tribal district.

The demand came at a meeting with United Business Group patron-in-chief and Punjab former minister S M Tanveer, National Business Group chairman and ex-minister Mian Zahid Hussain, business federations’ former presidents Ghazanfar Bilour, Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry coordinator Muhammad Afzal, Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry representative Akbar Khan, Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry ex-presidents Faiz Muhammad, Niaz Ahmad, Jawad Kazmi, Attaur Rahman, Saddar Gul and others during their visit to Bajaur tribal district.

Bajaur Chamber of Commerce and Industry group leader Lali Shah while briefing the businessmen’ leaders said that traders in the tribal district were faced with a host of problems.He asked the fellow businessmen to impress upon the government to curtail electricity loadshedding, reopen Pak-Afghan border points for trade between the two countries, exempt merged districts (ex-Fata) and Malakand from taxes and other issues being confronted by traders and businessmen in Bajaur.

On this occasion, UBG chief S M Tanveer and other business leaders assured the Bajaur traders that their issues would be conveyed to the government and other relevant departments to boost trade activities in the erstwhile Fata and Malakand division.

They also thanked the Bajaur Chamber of Commerce and Industry for a red carpet welcome and hosting a reception in their honour.Meanwhile, the traders stressed the need for reopening of the border points between Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote trade in the region.

They demanded the early reopening of Nawa Pass, Ghakhi Pass and Litai Pass for resuming trade activity between the residents of two countries.They said the three passes were the traditional trade routes between the people of Bajaur and Afghanistan. They noted that closure of routes had caused suspension of cultural and economic ties between the people of the two countries.

They called upon the governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan to understand the difficulties of people on both sides of the border due to the closure of routes and order their early reopening.