Businesses, families suffer greatly in nine days since Pak-Afghan border closure

TORKHAM/CHAMAN: The national exchequer has suffered a loss of billions of rupees in nine days, since the closure of Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Torkham and Chaman.

The big and small business that required goods and people to travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan are on the verge of closing down.

Hotels built in remote areas on the way to the Torkham border serve people carrying goods between the two countries. However, since movement is restricted, the hotel owners are faced with a dearth of customers.

Besides, around Rs30 million are lost so far due to the ban as transit trade, import and export cannot be carried out between both the neighbouring countries.  

Pakistan has industries that cater to the need of certain products, including matchsticks and plastics in Afghanistan. These too have been affected a great deal in only nine days as Afghanistan is the only buyer of these goods.   

In Chaman, thousands of families have been affected since the border closure has rendered many people jobless.

Freshwater fish, chicken and oranges were exported to Afghanistan until the border was closed.

Security has been heightened and according to reports, the Pakistan Army moved heavy artillery, including tanks, on the border with Afghanistan. The move came after the Pakistan Army pounded militant hideouts inside Afghanistan last week and killed militants belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. 

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Syed Abrar Hussain was summoned by the Afghan foreign office a few days back over Pakistani military’s cross-border strikes targetting terrorists. Syed Abrar informed the officials at the Afghan foreign ministry that all of the recent attacks in Pakistan were found to have been coordinated by terrorists based in Afghanistan.

The Pak-Afghan border was closed after a bomb blast in Sehwan city of Jamshoro district claimed lives of at least 88 people and injured over 300 others.