- National exchequer suffered the loss of Rs270 million
- Thousands of vehicles were stuck because of closure of the gate
- Afghan security personnel had closed the border crossing
KHYBER: Torkham border has been reopened after six days for transportation of cargo vehicles, Bol News reported on Saturday.
Six days ago, the Afghan security personnel had closed the border crossing for any kind of transportation, said the security forces. Thousands of vehicles were stuck because of closure of the gate, the security authorities said.
The border clearance authority said the national exchequer suffered the loss of Rs270 million due to suspension of the two-way trade.
On October 27, 2021, the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) had invited the attention of Prime Minister Imran Khan towards an alarming situation for Pakistani exporters who were anxiously waiting for their orders for goods from the Torkham and Chaman for more than a month due to closure of borders, a statement had said.
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Zeeshan Nazim, an exporter had said that mostly goods were perishable; and the exporters had so far lost over $3.8 billion business unnecessarily, as orders were either cancelled or on halt with no other options left.
He had said the dilemma was that there was a 700 per cent increase in freight rates from shipping lines and they were only giving bookings to those big exporters who could afford to pay an additional 20 per cent rates than the market rates.
Unisame president Zulfikar Thaver had said that it was unfortunate, as no government agency was taking notice and acting on this highly important issue and not comprehending the fact that it was ruining businesses and was suicidal for the SME entrepreneurs, as the goods might not remain in exportable condition due to the border closure.
