…As Afghanistan Govt Bans Child Laborers At Torkham border
LANDIKOTAL: In the past few weeks trade with Afghanistan 90 percent increased as Afghan government took steps including banning child laborers who used to work for years as tool to smuggle goods from and to Pakistan via Torkham border, officials said on Monday.
Talking to reporters at Torkham border, Chief Collector customs Khyber Pakhunkhwa Muhammad Salim said more than eight hundred children including girls and boys were involved in the smuggling of different items via Torkham border.
He said they requested the Afghan authorities at Torkham border crossing to stop the Afghan children as many have lost their lives while hidding from border police.
Muhammad Salim said around four thousands trucks were stranded in Afghanistan due the children who used to hide in a trucks to shift the smuggling goods across the border.He said Afghan border police were taking much time to let the truck proceed after thoroughly checking. He said the involvement of children in cross border smuggling was a head ache for authorities.
The custom official said after the strict action of Afghan border officials traffic flow now smoothly running between the two countries.
He said Pakistan exported goods worth dollars161 million to Afghanistan in the past three months.
“After taking many steps import and export volume 50 percent increased”, the official claimed.He said Afghanistan export fruits, coil, soapstone and other items to Pakistan. He said more than thousand loaded and empty trucks cross the border every day.
Earlier, Pak-Afghan joint Chamber of commerace and Khyber chamber of commerace office bearers including Shahid Khan Shinwari, Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, custom officials,custom agents also met the chief collector and discussed various trade issues with them.Chief collector customs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muhammad Salim assured the chambers’ members and traders to resolved their problems.
