Pakistan makes visa mandatory for Afghan truck drivers crossing border

Truck drivers carrying goods from Afghanistan, who hitherto would cross over into Pakistan only by showing to the officials their passports, would now have to show their passports with visa stamps on them, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday.

In this connection, an agreement was reached between the officials of the two countries at their meeting held at Pak-Afghan border crossing at Torkham yesterday.

The purpose of the decision is to regulate trade between both countries, improve security and eliminate smuggling.

Both truck drivers and traders have welcomed the agreement.

A truck driver has expressed the hope that the decision will not only benefit both Pakistan and Afghanistan, but also traders and drivers.

Another driver, who was equally pleased with the agreement, said that not only he was happy to hear the news but all truck drivers.

On the other hand, Pakistan Customs Inspector Alam Zeb has said that nowhere in the world people and vehicles cross over from one country to another without showing their visas. “The visa implementation system is in vogue in the entire world,” he added.  

FIA In-charge Inamul Haq has said that the new visa policy introduced by the government of Pakistan would help it keep record of the people entering its territory.   

24News had reported on Monday that despite the passage of several days thousands of trucks were still stranded at the busiest frontier crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan at Torkham.

The border crossings between the two countries at Torkham and at other places were closed for trade in the latest row over document rules for commercial vehicle drivers.

Crossings between the two countries have been temporarily shut in recent months after Islamabad last year launched a massive operation against undocumented Afghans living in Pakistan and tightened document requirements for Afghans entering the country.

The Torkham crossing was closed to trade vehicles on Friday night, border officials said, with around 3,000 trucks stranded on both sides of the border as of Monday, the co-chairman of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Khan Jan Alakozai, told AFP.

This "has not only inflicted losses on traders from both countries but has also resulted in an increase in market prices, as most of the cargo consists of food items that will perish if the crossing remains closed", he said.

Both sides blamed the other for the latest shutdown at the Torkham crossing, which was extended to other border points since Friday.

The dispute centred on demands for drivers from either side to have visas and passports, a document many Afghans do not have.

A long line of trucks piled high with goods snaked down the road from Torkham on Monday afternoon, an AFP photographer saw.

A Pakistan customs official said on Monday some 450 trucks were stranded on the Pakistani side of the Torkham crossing, with 600 more forced to stop along the road to the border.

Talks were underway between Islamabad and Kabul to resolve the issue, according to officials on both sides.

There was no breakthrough as of Monday night, Abdul Salam Jawad, spokesman for the Afghanistan Ministry of Industry and Commerce, told AFP.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have had increasingly fraught relations in recent months, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban government of failing to root out militants staging attacks on Pakistan from Afghan soil -- a claim Kabul has denied.

The Torkham and Spin Boldak-Chaman crossings were frequently shut last year, with tensions sometimes spilling over into armed clashes between border guards across the frontier.