PESHAWAR: As the establishment of a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf sit-in camp in Peshawar to block Nato supplies has entered third month, the law of diminishing return has started taking its toll on the local party cadres.

An official of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and credible business circles told Dawn on Thursday that some 11 container-laden trucks loaded with Nato cargo returning from Afghanistan slipped into Peshawar last week on the way to Karachi, without being spotted by protesters.

“The fear factor is still there, but slippages are becoming common,” said the official.

“Nato’s reverse cargo passed from the provincial capital last week.”

According to the official record, five containers passed from Peshawar on the previous Monday, whereas before that six containers remained unspotted by protesters on January 16.

Earlier on Wednesday, an employee of the Hayatabad Toll Plaza, who introduced himself as Adnan Khan, said the reverse cargo had become a usual phenomenon.

His co-worker, Zar Sher, talking to Dawn separately, said “a few days ago, three or four open trucks containing Nato office equipment went through the toll plaza without being spotted by them (PTI protesters).”

The staff, however, said the reverse cargo did not happen to be military vehicles.

“Nato goods loaded in sealed containers are coming,” said Mr Sher.

There is a greater likelihood of all this happening.

The camp organiser, Fayyaz Khalil, a local PTI leader, said the trucks coming from Afghanistan were not stopped for checking.

“Most of them happen to be empty and that’s why, we don’t check them,” said Mr Khalil.

“We have our sources in Fata, they would pass on the information to us if they spot any container loaded with returning Nato supplies.”

The arrangements at the camp make the slippage an obvious reflection of the reverse Nato cargo taking place. The camp has been set up on the right side of the dual carriage way (with face towards the toll plaza).

However, the protesters do not stop trucks returning from Afghanistan to check their customs documents, making the slippage a strong possibility.

On the other side of the carriageway, three chairs have been placed on the left side of the road (facing the toll plaza on way to Hayatabad). Protesters are assigned the job to check the documents of every container-laden truck before allowing them to continue onward journey.

However, the three seated gentlemen seldom go after checking the documents, the task the party workers performed vociferously in the early days of the camp after it was Truckers ‘outdoing’ PTI activists set up on November 24, 2012.

“We can figure out from their documents that the goods are meant for Nato or under trade,” said Rameez Khan, a young protester from Bajaur agency, sitting along with his two other friends.

He sounded confident, claiming he was involved in the transport business.

His father’s trucking company offers goods transportation services between Lahore and Karachi.

The toll plaza’s staff also laid claim to superior knowledge of recognising Nato cargo from the official seal of the container.

“I bet, they (PTI protesters) cannot identify Nato containers even if they check the customs documents of every container-laden truck,” said Mr Khan.

He said customs clearance agents in Karachi were dispatching Nato cargo to Afghanistan with fabricated documents, fudging details to make the consignment appear to be trade goods.

“We have also come to know about this thing three, four days back,” said a leading Peshawar-based customs clearance agent associated with Nato supplies. He said the claim could only be verified by looking at the official record.

The FBR official, on his part, did not reject the notion that Nato supplies to Afghanistan were also taking place. He, however, gave a different reason for the phenomenon.

“Some trucks pass through the toll plaza early morning before the protesters start arriving to set up the camp,” said the official.

Earlier, the toll plaza staff shared some more details about this possibility.

“Container-laden trucks pass through in good numbers early morning between 7am and 9:30am before the protesters’ arrival,” said a toll plaza employee, selecting to avoid sharing his name.

However, his co-worker Adnan Khan confirmed.

“In the beginning, a couple of them (protesters) come at around 10:30am or 11:00am whereas others come after mid-day close to the lunch time,” said the young Khan.

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a customs clearance agent and a director of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told Dawn that the trucks with cargo containers passing through the toll plaza before the arrival of the protesters had been going on for quite some time.

“People find innovative solutions to their problems,” said Mr Sarhadi.

“They have to earn livelihood for their families.”

However, Fayyaz Khalil, the camp organiser, rejects the impression, smilingly.

“Our workers stop every container-laden truck, not a single Nato truck can pass through here to Afghanistan,” he said.