Bajaur Jirga urges govt to open trade routes with Afghanistan

Hasbanullah : KHAR: Political activists, social figures and traders held another grand jirga on Saturday and urged the government to open the trade routes with Afghanistan to boost businesses and create employment opportunities in the district.

The grand jirga held at Inayat Killay Bazaar was also attended by religious scholars, traders and businesspeople.

Speaking on the occasion, traders’ leader Imran Mahar, Pakistan People’s Party ex-lawmaker Akhunzada Chattan, Sher Bahadur, Sahibzada Harron Rashid, Bajaur Chamber of Commerce president Lali Shah Pakhtunyar, Sirajuddin Khan, Malik Attaullah Khan, Maualana Attaullah Rahmani, Maulana Khan Zaib and others said that government had closed the trade routes with Afghanistan in the name of law and order situation.

They said that shutting the routes, including Nawa Pass, Ghakhi Pass, Laitai and others had brought businesses in Bajaur to a standstill, which was inflicting heavy losses on the traders and people.

They urged the government to open the routes forthwith as it was multiplying the problems of the businessmen and local residents instead of solving their issues.

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

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

The participants vowed that more jirgas would be arranged to press the government for acceptance of demands.