KOHAT, Oct 3: Expected US attack on Afghanistan, closure of border and strict security checks by militia have badly affected hundreds of those who deal in smuggled foreign goods as carriers refuse to move in mountainous border area because they think it is very risky to do so in the present circumstances.

Inquiries made in the Bara markets revealed that, in fact, carriers of electronic goods, toys and cigarettes have decided to stop smuggling of these items from Afghanistan into the tribal territory, fearing imminent US-led attack on the country.

Piles of smuggled goods were lying in godowns in Afghanistan but there was none to bring them here, an owner of a shop in a Bara market, Hafeez Khan, told Dawn. Even during the war against the former USSR,smuggling of goods from Afghanistan had not stopped, he said and added that this was for the first time that such activity had come to an end.

The Bara market shops which hundreds of people used to visit everyday to buy electric irons, toasters, juicers, sandwich makers, quilts and crockery, wear a deserted look as the shopkeepers have nothing to sell, having already exhausted their old stock.

An Afghan smuggler said the routes were still safe and their connections with the customs and the police intact, but it was the fear that they might be killed had forced them to abandon the business. He said that his carriers had been earning Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a day just by bringing goods from Thall to Kohat.

Hundreds of Afghans here and on the other side of the border have been badly affected by the aftermath of Sept11 attacks and are losing millions of rupees daily because there is nobody to take their goods to selling points.