The Torkham border row

Pak-Afghan relations have many complications and one of them is Torkham, the porous land border both of them share that is the continuous source of trouble.

Afghanistan being a landlocked country heavily dependent upon access to sea for obtaining all goods and Pakistan has provided a transit corridor for letting them transfer their goods back to their country.

However, the Afghan trade corridor is notorious for malpractices and Pakistani authorities continuously complain about them but keeping in view the sensitivity of the matter the transit facility is not withdrawn.

Since after the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul the situation at the borders has exacerbated as Pakistani authorities are deeply concerned about the almost free movement of terrorists they allege get safe treatment in Afghanistan particularly after they undertake any terrorist activity in Pakistan.

The situation at Pak-Afghan border usually remains a source of friction between both the countries and it was in the last month of March that the Torkham border remained closed for many days as a deadlock over starting a dialogue prevailed between border officials of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Pakistani side emphasised that the Afghan government unilaterally closed the border crossing and as a matter of principle they should initiate a dialogue if they want the border to be reopened. It was added that additional forces deployed at the border after the recent firing incident had been withdrawn while the Afghan side too reciprocated by pulling back their reinforcement. Meanwhile, it was reported that some informal contacts were made with the Afghan Taliban authorities urging them to send a delegation for talks.

The local trading community and transporters have called for immediate reopening of the border crossing as edible goods worth millions of rupees were at the risk of decomposing. It was reported that hundreds of vehicles were parked at about 17km of roadside stretch from Katakushtha to Torkham which also posed a security risk for transporters.

The reason for the border closure by Taliban was not entirely clear though officials on both sides said they are in discussions to resolve the issue. However, the deadlock finally ended and Pakistani and Afghan authorities agreed to work together to improve and facilitate cross-border trade and pedestrian movement.

The agreement came during a meeting of the Pak-Afghan Border Management Committee in the Afghan customs offices in Gumrak area. The meeting discussed the reasons for the week-long unilateral closure of the Torkham border by Afghan border forces accusing Pakistani forces of manhandling Afghan patients and denying them and their attendants the permission to enter their country without visa.

The Afghan officials also sought entry permission for Afghan vehicles equivalent to Pakistani ones crossing over to Afghanistan as well as for the stranded citizens, who held Afghan cards or Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.

It was also reported that the Afghan authorities requested Pakistani counterparts not to seize the PoRs and Afghan cards and only punch them as most of the returning Afghans, who had lived in Pakistan for decades, were without other identification cards or legal travel documents.

It was also mentioned that the Afghan side also insisted that people of their country, who did not have PoRs or Afghan cards and were returning to Pakistan under the UNHCR voluntary repatriation programme should be granted permission to go back with other family members.

The Afghan authorities insisted that all those issues should be mutually resolved in order to prevent sudden border closures in future. It was added that both sides agreed to make concerted efforts to effectively stop child porters from secretly taking sugar and oranges to Afghanistan and smuggling goods to Pakistan.

It is now reported that a dispute over acquisition of land for the state-of-the-art customs terminal at the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham continues to simmer as construction work paces ahead to complete the project by the end of this year.

The tribal elders allege that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), with whom they had originally signed an agreement on the provision of over 300 kanals of their collective land near the Torkham border for the construction of the terminal, had redesigned its structure and also grabbed over 400 kanals of additional land without their consent.

Though the idea of constructing the much-needed terminal was conceived in 2003, the construction work was delayed till 2015 due to the security situation in the region and also a row over the acquisition of the required land which was owned by the Khuga Khel sub-tribe of Landi Kotal.

In this matter the FBR has opted to stay in the background letting the National Logistic Cell (NLC) handle the matter as it had awarded the contract and is also present on ground to execute the construction plan.

The so-called aggrieved tribesmen and a senior JUI-F leader, insisted that they were never taken into confidence about the revised plan of the customs terminal and the subsequent encroachment of over 400 kanals of additional land.

They said that the concerned tribe and the residents of Khyber district were not against the construction of the terminal as it would provide the much-needed employment opportunities to the local people and give impetus to bilateral trade with Afghanistan.

They only demanded a fair deal regarding the acquisition of any additional land for the purpose.

To drive their point home the concerned tribesmen had during a protest rally in Landi Kotal threatening to forcibly stop the terminal’s construction if their grievances were not addressed within a week.

They, however, failed to muster the required strength to materialise their threat after the expiry of the deadline and opted for a negotiated settlement of the issue. It was reported that five of the nine members of the negotiating team had consented to the provision of additional 404 kanals of their collective land to the FBR and thus there was no question of disputing the agreement and sabotaging the construction of the customs terminal.

The NLC strongly mentioned that not a single inch of the tribal land would be occupied or utilised for the under-construction terminal without lawful authority.

It however pointed out that there was a difference of some 16 kanals of land after the signing of the revised agreement and that too would be satisfactorily settled with revised rates in due course of time.

It was reported that the main highway passing through the centre of the customs terminal was the property of National Highways Authority, while natural stream falling within the terminal’s jurisdiction was state property and there were also some individual owners of some of the land acquired for the terminal who were duly compensated. The NLC with FBR assistance is planning to conduct the final measurement of the terminal upon its completion by the end of this year and all stakeholders would be invited to see the actual size of the terminal premises.

It was conceded by the NLC that some additional land was acquired as the drawing of the terminal was revised after additional facilities were added to it on the request of the tribal elders and local traders, transporters and customs clearing agents.

At the under construction terminal customs clearance of loaded vehicles would be done under a one-window system while goods declaration procedure could be performed through internet under the WebBasedOne Custom system by the importers and exporters from any part of the country or abroad.

The new terminal will have a cumulative parking facility for at least 500 vehicles which will hugely minimise traffic mess on the main Peshawar-Torkham highway.

The terminal is also designed to offer rapid passenger immigration process, efficient cargo checking and handling alongside e-lanes for even faster clearance and a sufficiently large parking space for at least 500 trucks awaiting clearance.