KHYBER: Mazdoor Union of Torkham has demanded restoration of Nadra tokens for unhindered cross-border movement of its members to revive their suspended jobs.

Addressing a news conference at Landi Kotal Press Club on Thursday, president of union Farman Shinwari said that a row over payment of dues between the Khyber district administration and National Database and Registration Authority for running of Nadra centre at Torkham since June last year caused suspension of issuance of temporary tokens to them that also hampered their cross-border movement.

Flanked by Jamrud Mazdoor Union leader Aurangzed Afridi, Mr Shinwari said that the suspension of Nadra token rendered nearly 8,000 labourers and daily wagers jobless.

He added that they had been facing serious financial problems for the last seven months.

Demanding an immediate resolution of the ‘monetary dispute’ between the district administration and Nadra, he said that it would help to revive their jobs alongside free movement on both sides of Torkham border which they had been doing since ages under ‘border easement rights’.

Mr Shinwari said that labourers and daily wagers were not involved in any unlawful activity. He said that government should also work for finding alternative sources of income for thousands of labourers and daily wagers as officials were not allowing them free movement across the border in the name of security.

He said that his union was not willing to accept the condition of possessing legal travel documents for routine cross-border movement of its members as their jobs required multiple trips on both sides of the border on a daily basis. “Only a token issued by Nadra could help to revive our decades-old profession,” he added.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2022