May 03, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1429

KARACHI, May 2: Customs officers and staff members went on a strike on Friday against the suspension of seven senior officers and 18 guards for their alleged involvement in clearance of 183 containers at Qasim International Container Terminal (QICT) at Port Qasim without payment of duty.

The import and export activities came to a standstill as no entries of goods declaration (GDs) and clearance of Bill of Lading could take place.

The Model Customs Collectorate (Preventive) on April 30 suspended seven officers and 18 sepoys.

The officers and staff members, who claimed that their colleagues were implicated to protect the real culprits, did not allow any one to enter the ‘Custom House’.

Collector of Preventive Mohammad Yahaya and Chief Collector Munir Qureshi tried to convince the representatives of Customs Preventive Officers Association and Class IV Workers Association and reportedly assured them if they called off the strike the suspended officials would be reinstated immediately.

But following the reports that both the high officials had denied of giving any such assurance, the customs officials and staff members decided to continue strike on Saturday.

The Customs Preventive Officers Association was of the view that in the past containers were also being cleared in large numbers without duty payment through transhipment pass for dry ports under strong political pressure, therefore, the customs staff posted at the QICT in no way was involved in fraudulent clearance of containers.

The association, in a recent communication to the Federal Board of Revenue chairman, had also expressed doubts about the fairness of the investigation being carried out by the directorate general of intelligence and investigation.