PESHAWAR: The Pak-Afghan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (PAJCCI) senior vice president, Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, has urged the federal government to reassess its Afghan transit trade policy, following a significant shift in trade volumes to other international routes.

In a press statement issued here on Sunday, the PAJCCI senior vice president, who is also executive member Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and president Frontier Custom Agents Association, said that the shifting of large portion of Afghan transit trade from Karachi port to ports of other regional countries was a matter of serious concern for the business community and policy makers.

Zia said the volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been reduced to less than one billion dollar, which was over two billion dollars a couple of years earlier.

Drawing a comparison with regional countries, Zia said the trade volume between Afghanistan and Iran has touched around five billion dollars figure on annual basis.

In the past, imports to Afghanistan were sent via Karachi port, but strict restrictions on Afghan transit cargo especially in recent years caused diversion of over 60percent of transit from Karachi to regional countries, he claimed.

The PAJCCI office-bearer quoted the example of Khaf-Herat railway track between Iran and Afghanistan where 100 wagons loaded with commercial cargo arrived from Iran to Rozanak station on daily basis, bringing around 40,000 tonnes of goods on monthly basis.

Sarhadi also demanded segregation of politics from trade to avoid closure of Pak-Afghanistan borders due to political and other petty issues.

He said in the recent past, Torkhem border remained closed for more than one month over a dispute on picket construction at zero point.

Trade cessation due to border closure not only inflicted huge losses on the business community of both the countries but also compelled Afghan businessmen to search for alternative route of trade in the region, he added.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2025