KHYBER: The recent news conference of Lt Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, the military’s spokesman, has dampened the spirits of the trading community associated with Pak-Afghan trade, which said it has lost hope for an early reopening of border crossings.
Connected through a WhatsApp group, All Border Leadership Council, hundreds of importers, exporters and customs clearing agents said they had pinned their hopes on a positive outcome after some “goodwill” gestures from foreign ministers of both neighbouring countries in recent days.
Some members of the Khyber Chamber of Commerce and Industry shared their personal posts about the possible opening of Torkham and Chaman border points on January 6 following their online meeting with their Afghan counterparts in Kabul.
In a statement, they said that a 13-member joint committee was formed to help end the Pak-Afghan border tensions and restore trading activities at the earliest.
Sayed Jawad Kazmi was appointed focal person from the Pakistani side, while Mohammad Wali Amini was made the head of the Afghan delegation.
They said that the border reopening was a formality as they were to meet their Afghan counterparts at Torkham on January 6 for a major breakthrough. However, to the disappointment of the All Border Leadership Council, the meeting didn’t take place, with security and customs officials insisting that they’re not informed about it.
Reacting to the ISPR chief’s news conference, Israr Shinwari, a social activist and member of the group, said in a post that chances of reopening borders with Afghanistan had almost diminished and he lost any such hope in the near future.
He urged the group members to take the border reopening campaign to Islamabad, hold regular news conferences at the National Press Club and take up the issue with parliamentarians from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
“The ISPR DG has downplayed trade with Afghanistan, arguing the border closure is advantageous to Pakistan, though the border closure for nearly three months has caused financial misery and even starvation to thousands of people,” he argued.
Subhanullah, a clearing agent and member of Kurram Chamber of Commerce, insisted that a concerted effort was needed to apprise policymakers in Islamabad of the adverse effects of the closure of Afghan border on the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, who were largely dependent on trade with Afghanistan, both formal and informal.
He said that the continuous border closure had not only deprived Pakistan from a thriving Afghan market but also thousands of people attached with the trade had either become jobless or incurred personal losses to the tune of millions of rupees. A group member even suggested an urgent meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz as he believed that she could convey their grievances to the ‘establishment’ in a sympathetic manner.
Humayun Khan, a trader from North Waziristan, called for “repeated and untiring” efforts to convince government officials about the importance and necessity of the reopening of all border points without further delay.
“The ball is now in the court of the Afghan Taliban regime, which has adopted a rigid border stand, so it is the responsibility of Afghan traders and even ordinary citizens to force it to soften that position,” he said.
The trader suggested that the Pakistani traders and other stakeholders should continue pressing authorities for the “legitimate demand” of border reopening.
Some group members even suggested reaching out to Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir or his close associates for intervention.
Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2026
