PESHAWAR: The opposition members complained in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday that thousands of trucks with containers carrying transit goods for Afghanistan had been stranded on Peshawar-Torkham and Indus highways for many days causing spoilage of edible items and traffic problems.

During a session chaired by Deputy Speaker Mahmud Jan, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal lawmaker Zafar Azam Khan said as container-trucks were stranded on both sides of the Indus Highway, it was impossible for others to use the road.

He said the highway users had to waste five to six hours between Mattani and Dera Adamkhel, which were around 10 kilometers away.

Mr Zafar said there was no traffic police official on the Indus Highway to manage the traffic.

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He criticised the cabinet members and PTI lawmakers for using those roads but not taking up the issue of stranded trucks with the chief minister and other authorities.

Participating in the debate, Mian Nisar Gul of the MMA alleged that authorities promised the smooth border crossing for container-trucks on the payment of Rs40,000-Rs50,000 bribe.

He said container-trucks were stranded not only on the roads in KP but container-trucks were also stranded on roads in Sindh.

Sources in Khyber tribal district told Dawn that thousands of container-trucks were stranded on the Torkham border and on roads in rest of the country due to the closure of border with Afghanistan over the outbreak of Covid-19.

They said the entry of container-trucks was only for nine hours from 8am to 5pm though Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced during a visit to Torkham a few months ago that the border would be opened round the clock.

The sources said secondly, the authorities were scanning every goods vehicle but had only one scanner, so there was a long delay in scanning.

They said at least six scanners should be installed to expedite the scanning of the container-trucks.

Responding to the criticism, adviser to the chief minister on science and technology department Ziaullah Bangash said it was a very serious issue and he would discuss it with the inspector general of police to deploy traffic police officials for managing the traffic.

He also endorsed the opposition that container-trucks on both sides of the Indus Highway had created multiple problems for the routine traffic plying between Peshawar and several southern districts of the province.

MMA MPA Naeema Kishwar condemned the rape of a woman on the Lahore Motorway and said only condemnation was not sufficient and instead, the government enact laws to award exemplary punishment to the culprits of such heinous crimes.

She said a violation of human rights in the country had crossed all limits as the rape and killing of children, women and transgender persons had become order of the day.

The opposition lawmaker also demanded of the federal government to take disciplinary action against Lahore’s capital city police officer for issuing an irresponsible statement about the rape incident on the motorway.

The chair adjourned the session until Monday due to a lack of quorum.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2020