KHYBER: Agitated Khugakhel tribesmen on Wednesday forcibly stopped the construction work on a customs terminal at the Torkham border after breaking through a police barricade at the Machini checkpost.

Covering a distance of about seven kilometres from Landi Kotal to Torkham on foot amid rain, the protesting tribesmen managed to break through the police cordon at Machni as they outnumbered the police personnel posted there.

They then forcibly stopped the construction work amid cheers and sloganeering. The National Logistics Cell staff working on the terminal site also offered no resistance.

Speaking on the occasion, Mufti Ejaz, a Khugakhel elder, said they would not agree to anything short of a revised agreement about the inclusion of additional land for construction of the terminal buildings along with concrete guarantees from the security officials and the district administration that the NLC won’t commit any ‘violation’ of the agreement in future.

Meanwhile, traders and transporters at the Torkham border said cross-border trade with Afghanistan had almost come to a halt due to the continued protest and subsequent closure of the road leading to the crossing.

Azeemullah Shinwari, a local transporter, told Dawn that transporters were the worst affected as they were to bear harsh weather and additional financial losses due to road closure.

Haji Jabir, a senior member of Khyber Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was also worried about the declining trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said not a single vehicle taking export items to Afghanistan had crossed the border during the last three days.

Also in the day, the customs staff recovered about 100 kilogrammes of narcotics from secret cavities of an empty container coming from Afghanistan at Torkham border on Wednesday. Officials, however, said driver of the vehicle managed to escape and the vehicle was impounded.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2022