17 July 2004	Saturday	28 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

MANSEHRA, July 16: Police and other agencies have started harrassing people after a notification was issued by the Central Board of Revenue for abolishing customs mobile squads and check-posts, sources said.

They said that innocent people were being harrassed and humiliated on the GT Road near Nowshera and the Attock Bridge with personnel of various agencies extorting money.

The sources termed the issuance of the CBR notification counter-productive and said that it was encouraging smuggling of contraband items, including narcotics and weapons, into the country.

The CBR notification is aimed at ridding the citizens of unnecessary trouble and humiliation during general checking by the customs mobile squads and at the check posts. The sources criticized the CBR move and said that doing away with custom mobile squads and check posts was no solution to the problem of smuggling.

The CBR authorities, they said, should find other viable solution which could be helpful in preventing the smuggling of the contraband and in ridding the people of inconvenience at the hands of customs officials.

They said that a major factor hindering effective checking of smuggling was lengthy and porous borders with neighbouring countries.