July 16, 2006	Sunday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 19, 1427

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PESHAWAR, July 15: Pakistani and Afghan authorities at Torkham are allowing commuter vehicles to cross the border checkpoint without legal documents, sources told Dawn here.

Afghan Consul-General Abdul Khaliq Farahi said his government would “look into the issue shortly and stop the illegal movement”.

Officials said 12 to 15 coaches left Peshawar for Kabul and Jalalabad daily and the authorities on both sides of the border allowed them to cross the Torkham gate without any permit.

A Pakistani official at Torkham said the authorities in Islamabad had issued special road passes 10 years back to an Afghan national, Qazi, to conduct a passenger coach service between the two countries.

“We can’t stop these passenger vehicles from crossing over the border,” he said, adding: “This special service has been operating for 10 years.”

The sources alleged that the officials of both sides manning the border did not check travel documents of hundreds of passengers travelling to and from Afghanistan every day.

However, communications ministry officials expressed ignorance about the coach service to Kabul, saying that the federal government had issued route permits to the United Bus Company for a service between Peshawar and Jalalabad.

Road Transport Director Shahid Iqbal said the ministry had received complaints regarding illegal movement of passenger vehicles via Torkham.

He said the ministry had directed the NWFP Regional Transport Authority to submit a report about unauthorised operation of passenger vehicles.

RTA Director Sajid Jadoon said that the matter had been discussed with the federal government and the authorities concerned had been asked to check the illegal operation.

Officials said the Peshawar-Jalalabad bus service might be affected as the company operating it was losing business because of the illegal transport operation.

The bus service was launched on May 26 and under the agreement the company would operate five buses daily from Pakistan and six from Afghanistan. The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation will operate one bus on alternate days under the agreement.