KARACHI: A leading tyre manufacturer on Tuesday urged the government to withdraw the decision of discontinuation of stamping of goods in transit to Afghanistan, stressing the move will hurt the local industry and reverse all the efforts of curbing illegal practices of smuggling.

On Oct 7, the Directorate General of Transit Trade Customs House, Karachi, vide its Office Order No.49/2020-Estt-(DTT) had announced that stamping of goods “in transit to Afghanistan” will be discontinued at Karachi Port and Port Qasim.

In a statement, General Tyre and Rubber Company of Pakistan (GTR) spokesman said stamping must be mandatory for goods in transit to Afghanistan. “Without the stamping, goods would again find their ways to the country and ultimately weaken our local industrial basis, resulting in billions of rupee revenue losses to the government,” he said.

“Moreover, it has been established that stamping was helpful to address items under the guise of Afghan Transit Trade that were either unloaded in Karachi or come back from the Afghan border via smuggling. Along with other measures stamping was a good strategy of the Customs department that must be carried on,” he added.

The spokesman added that in another Office Order No.50 / 2020-Estt-(DTT) on Oct 7, it was announced that the scanning of Afghan Transit Cargo at Karachi Port and Port Muhammad Bin Qasim would be carried out as per Rule 473 of SRO 121(1)/2014 dated Feb 24, 2014.

The local tyre industry is meeting almost 15pc of the country’s demand.

Since the stamping was in place there was a remarkable control over smuggling, he said.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2020