Unavailability of Business opportunities, lack jobs opportunities  creating law and order situation in killa Abdullah
Unavailability of Business opportunities, lack jobs opportunities creating law and order situation in killa Abdullah
Hidayatullah Achakzai
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District Killa Abdullah is situated on Pak Afghan border and the last census reflects that the population of the region is Seven Lac Fifty Seven thousand five hundred. The majority of the locals depend on the border trade as there is no other means available.

District Killa Abdullah is situated on Pak Afghan border and the last census reflects that the population of the region is Seven Lac Fifty Seven thousand five hundred. The majority of the locals depend on the border trade as there is no other means available.

Besides legal trade, there is an economy of illegal trade and locals terms as border trade. Thousands of people in the area are connected with this business and those linked indirectly are double in number.

According to a local Trader Habibullah, the government does not facilitate them in border trade in terms of low taxes. The authorities should consider Chaman backwardness and declare it as free port or a tax free zone.

Yearly bilateral formal trade volume on Pak-Afghan border is more than 50 billion. The quantum of other trade cannot be easily accessed said custom official.

“The  smuggling  is being done in far mountainous areas of the district Killa Abdullah where along with government officials, private tribal people  are equally responsible in taking bribes”, revealed Habibullah.

A trader named Jamal shah says that the expense of transporting goods illegally from Pakistan to Afghanistan is one lac to one and a half lac rupees. The same amount gets doubled if the same importing back to Pakistan.

According to Customs official, for last three years while using Chaman border goods of Rs. one hundred and fifty two billion were exported to Afghanistan and the import reach to Rs. 22 billion.. He further added that they provide every possible support to traders at Pak-Afghan border according to prescribed government policies.

During discussion it was unearthed that there is no mechanism for anti-smuggling at Chaman border, the concerned units only operates in Quetta.

The President of Chaman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr. Imran khan Kakar demanded government to improve infrastructure, time management through one window/one custom system.  He urged to install scanners at the border making the process easier to scan various consignments and declare Chaman as a dry port.

Due to strict trade policy of government, the afghan traders are disappointed from the documentation process which takes weeks to clear shipments.

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Assistant Collector of Customs at Chaman says that they provide relief to tradersand have reduced regulatory duty to zero.

According to him, fifteen to twenty thousand people cross border daily for trading at Vesh Mandi established on afghan side.

Whenever the Pakistan-Afghanistan border closes for any reason, it reflects directly on the law and order situation of the area, disclosed Shafaqat Anwar Shahwani Deputy Commissioner of Qilla Abdullah. ”When the border was closed for 40 days during census last year, it seriously disturbed law and order situation in the area”, he explained!

He said when there is no employment the people will turn into criminals. The situation also favours international actors and terrorists organizations aiming to destabilized Pakistan.

For last five years, the relations at Pak-Afghan border is tense and fragile impacting local situation where 18 cases of killings, six terrorist incidents included bomb blasts and 2 cases of kidnapping for ransom were reported. Recently an attempt to abduct a local Doctor was made which was thwarted by the administration when a kidnapper was killed during encounter. There were seven dacoities and seven cars and motorcycle snatched says Deputy Commissioner.

He added that after completion of the fence on border, there will be an improvement in law and order. The government planning to establishes an industrial zone or free economic zone in the area.

On the other hand the locals complaint that the government doesn’t provide facilities at border, allowing non-formal trade to flourish.

A trader Abdul Sadiq says that government’s strict policies on the border, limiting the opportunities of business for them and now it’s hard to feed their families.

The government has not established any factory or any other industry in the area to provide an alternate source of income to the residents According to Sadiq, due to limited business avenues, they are encountering with financial and bad Law and order situation.

The experts believe that the ignorance of the government, fueling apprehensions among the people of Chaman and they are being forced to opt illegal means to run their kitchens.  Only the authorities can turn the table around but that needs serious and immediate measures to be taken to weed out the menace of smuggling.

The Customs data shows that they have collected Rs. 6.9 billion revenue during financial year July 15 to Dec 18 at Chaman border in account of different duties.

Few years back the Frontier Corps was given Anti-smuggling powers but later it was withdrawn.

Mr. KaKarwas of the opinion that after the US restrictions on Iran, the consignments will again shifted back to Karachi and Gwadar through Chaman and Turkham Border.