17 December 2004	Friday	04 Ziqa'ad 1425

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PESHAWAR, Dec 16: Tribesmen of the Mohmand Agency have asked the NWFP governor to remove checkpoints from main roads in the tribal region instead of shifting them to the Afghan border.

They said that checkpoints were set up at various points inside the agency to eliminate illegal trade, but local authorities had failed to achieve their objectives. Speaking at a joint press conference here on Thursday, Malik Zareen Safi, Malik Ashraf Khuwazai and Malik Fazli Maula Shinwari said the local authorities collected tax from tribesmen on daily-use commodities.

They said the main objective of the checkpoints was to stop smuggling from Afghanistan. The elders said the Mohmand tribesmen had helped the army in moving to the inaccessible areas of Khuawazai and Bazai near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Malik Safi said that tribesmen carrying buffaloes or cows and flour for their use were taxed at various checkpoints, which was unjust. "The government should abolish these checkpoints and set up these near the borders and the army and paramilitary forces should check the smuggling of cattle and timber to Afghanistan," he said.

He said that due to the permits granted to smugglers meat crisis had developed not only in the agency but also in the NWFP. He said that while on the one hand, tribesmen were being charged Rs2,500 tax on a cow at Krappa checkpoint, on the other hand permits were being issued to smugglers.

The tribal elders accused the agency administrator of granting permits for cattle and timber for transportation to Afghanistan. "The political agent is amassing money from these permits but the amount was neither being spent on the welfare of tribesmen nor deposited in the government exchequer," they claimed.