PESHAWAR: Already left with very few options due to insecurity in tribal areas, traders on both sides of Pak-Afghan border are forced to make a bad deal with the personnel of law-enforcement agencies while crossing three designated trade points in Kurram Agency.

Local traders and transporters told Dawn that they had to pay more money as ‘bribe’ than the actual transportation charges for the goods they send to Afghanistan.

They complained mental torture was an additional ordeal.

“One way fare of a loaded truck from Peshawar to zero point (border) is Rs27,000 but every driver is paying Rs28,000 additional money to security personnel at checkposts on Thall-Parachinar Road,” said one tribesman, who exports goods to Afghanistan.

Allege security men at Kurram Agency checkposts force them to offer bribes

He said there were at least 20 checkposts and pickets between Thall and Kherlachi and every driver had to bribe personnel at every checkpost otherwise he couldn’t take goods to Afghanistan.

He alleged security personnel used different tactics to force transporters into offering bribe.

Another trader from Alizai Town, Lower Kurram complained paramilitary soldiers even asked drivers to show driving licences and check vehicle documents.

“The FC personnel have been deployed on the road to ensure security and are supposed to check smuggling, but they ask for verification of driving licence,” he said.

The trader alleged when drivers refused to accept illegal demands of security personnel, they were ordered to unload trucks for checking.

An official at the Balahisar Fort, the headquarters of FC in Peshawar, explained that FC had been empowered only to check smuggling, illegal cross-border movement and maintenance of security.

He said paramilitary forces had nothing to do with the checking of driving licences, vehicle registration documents etc.

“Sometimes, the people level baseless allegations against personnel to malign institutions,” he said, adding that FC was playing key role in maintaining law and order and ending smuggling.

The official trade with Afghanistan via Kurram Agency has multiplied since the closure of Ghulam Khan checkpost in North Waziristan Agency, where a military operation has been going on since mid-June this year.

Except Tarri Mangal, other three notified trade routes with Afghanistan in Kurram Agency – Shahidan Dand, Kherlachi and Borki – are fully functional and over 100 trailer trucks loaded with export items use them daily.

Tarri Mangal had been closed for trade for 10 years for security reasons.

Earlier, all four official trade routes remained close between 2007 and 2011 due to lawlessness in the valley.

An official in regional customs office, Kohat told Dawn that the central corridor (Bannu-Miramshah-Ghulam Khan) had been closed for bilateral trade since the military launched Zarb-i-Azb operation against militants in North Waziristan and that the flow of trade had been shifted to Kurram Agency.

Customs agents and traders said on average, 15-20 trucks loaded with export items crossed into Afghanistan through the designated points in Kurram Valley on daily basis but over 100 trucks used them everyday.

They said trade with Afghanistan via Kurram Agency had seen a sharp increase after the military operation in North Waziristan Agency lying on the southeast edge of Kurram Agency.

The customs agents and traders said flow of trade via Shahidan Dand in lower Kurram, which was close to Khost province of Afghanistan, was very nominal due to insecurity.

They said currently, 30 to 40 loaded trucks used the route daily.

Increase in trade activities has generated lots of employment opportunities in the area.

Import of different items, including vegetables, dried fruit, fresh fruits and scrap from Afghanistan via these routes has also increased.

The sources said the authorities had stopped issuing road passes to Afghan truckers for one month.

They said after withdrawal of the facility, Afghan truckers were not allowed to cross into Kurram Agency and therefore, they had to unload goods at zero points.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2014