July 12, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Sani 26, 1428

PESHAWAR, July 11: The authorities are in a fix about devising a policy for issuing driving licences to registered Afghans residing in the NWFP and involved in transporting goods across the border.

Sources said the traffic police had stopped renewing and issuing licences to Afghan nationals in March 2002 and blocked fresh proposals about issuing the permits.

Afghans were entitled to get the licences before 2002, although the Motor Vehicle Ordinance does not allow foreigners to obtain it without valid travelling documents and work permits.

At a recent meeting in the home department, the traffic police opposed issuing or renewing driving licences of Afghans without fulfilling legal formalities, the sources said.

Farmanullah Jan, the Additional Commissioner of the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, said the body favoured the proposal because the government could generate substantial revenue by issuing licences to the Afghan drivers.

“Afghan nationals do not qualify to obtain driving licences under the law, but in the past they were issued licences by the traffic police,” Mr Jan insisted.

“There is no provision in the national law and international conventions to issue driving licences to foreigners who do not have valid one-year visas and work permits,” said a traffic police official.

He pointed out that the Afghans residing in Pakistan neither had valid travelling documents nor refugee status, so there was no legal justification to provide driving licences to them. He said that despite registration of over two million Afghans, their status had not been defined.

Officials acknowledged that hundreds of registered and unregistered Afghans had been driving light and heavy vehicles without licences in Peshawar and other parts of the country.

During the Afghan conflict which begun in 1979, the refugees were not only issued driving licenses but special vehicle registration numbers were also allotted to them by certain agencies.

An official said Afghan truckers carrying goods from Afghanistan to the NWFP had complained of maltreatment by the traffic police. The drivers do not have international licences.

Afghan Consul-General Abdul Khaliq Farahi told Dawn that he had discussed grievances of the drivers with the authorities and requested them to address their concerns.

The sources said the traffic police had also refused to renew licences of Afghans working for international relief organisations in the NWFP.

They said the traffic police authorities were of the view that the provincial government should amend the Motor Vehicle Ordinance before issuing licences to Afghan nationals.

The National Motorways and Highways Police have also restricted the movement of trucks owned by Afghan nationals beyond the provincial capital.

Sources in the transport business said about 600 trucks owned by Afghan nationals were involved in transportation of goods across the border and at least Rs10,000 fine was imposed per truck for violating the restriction.