CHARSADDA: Qaumi Watan Party central chairman Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has said that prolonged closure of Pak-Afghan border points is causing huge financial losses to both the neighbouring countries.

He demanded that all border routes should be reopened immediately for restoration of bilateral ties and creation of employment opportunities for thousands of people from both the sides.

Sherpao expressed these views while talking to mediapersons in Umarzai area here on Sunday.

He said that proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan issue could not be resolved without full implementation of the Doha Agreement, adding stopping cross-border terrorism should be the top priority of both the countries. He said it was necessary to put pressure on the Afghan government to act against terror outfits without severing trade ties with Kabul.

Calls for immediate reopening of border points with Afghanistan

He said that an effective evacuation plan should be prepared immediately for Pakistani students and businessmen stranded in Afghanistan.

Expressing concern over the alleged mistreatment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mohammad Sohail Afridi in Punjab, he said that inter-provincial respect and harmony were indispensable.

He said the PTI government had been in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the past 14 years but law and order situation was precarious, and employment and inflation were rampant.

Sherpao said instability, poverty and unemployment had made lives of people miserable amid the provincial government’s failure to fulfil its constitutional responsibilities.

He said that first duty of the chief executive of a province was to resolve public issues, but unfortunately the provincial government’s attention had been limited to sit-ins only.

He said that the provincial government did not seem serious about establishing peace in the province. He said the provincial government’s multiparty conferences and jirgas proved to be mere show-offs as their decisions could not be implemented, adding no effective steps had been taken to improve law and order situation in the province.

Aftab Sherpao said that privatisation of PIA was inevitable because it was causing losses of billions of rupees to the national exchequer every year. He said other loss-making organisations should also be privatised.

Sherpao said that despite diplomatic successes, the lack of investment in the country was clear evidence of the lack of policy reforms. “Economic improvement is not possible without providing protection and facilities to investors.”

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2025