PESHAWAR, April 30: Eastern Afghanistan is likely to face food and medicine shortage due to a wheel-jam strike being observed at the call of the Pakistan-Afghan transporters the strike entered the fifth day on Monday.

Traders and exporters told Dawn that supply from Karachi and down-country to Peshawar was continuing but its transportation across the border to Afghanistan was suspended creating a major backlog and problems at the local level.

President Pakistan-Afghan Traders Group Gul Afzal Shinwari said that consignments from Karachi seaport were reaching here through railway wagons and trucks, but for the last five days no major onward shipment could be made. The warehouses are packed and now the problem is where and how to store the fresh stocks, he added.

He said the strike was increasing the financial liabilities of local exporters and traders associated with Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) as they had to pay extra detention charges for withholding containers at dry ports.

Mr Abdul Hameed Gorwara, a trader, expressed the fear that the suspension of food and medicine supply might “cause shortage in eastern provinces of Afghanistan”.

Mr Shakir Afridi complained that transporters had heard nothing from the Afghan government even after the passage of five days. Goods reaching here on trucks from Karachi are being placed along the Ring Road since nobody wanted to take the risk of crossing the border, he said. He added that no goods vehicle moved across the border on Monday, except for a few ones loaded with vegetable and fruits.

Transporters have been on strike for the last five days to protest against what they call heavy taxes and extortions by Afghan authorities.