The government of Pakistan allowed the opening of Pak-Afghan borders at Torkham and Chaman for both transit and bilateral trade with Afghanistan for five-day a week, said a notification issued by the Ministry of Interior on Friday.

Pakistan had closed both trade routes for Afghan transit trade and bilateral trade as precautionary measure against the spread of Covid-19 in the country. However, later the border opened for two days a week.

Due to the closure of border more than 7000 containers loaded with Afghanistan bound transit trade goods were stranded at Karachi port. Afghan traders were complaining of the perishing of items inflicting heavy financial losses on them.

The ministry has directed authorities at both borders for allowing 100 trucks each from both Torkham and Chaman borders per day.

Under the notification, the passage of the NATO, ISAF Cargo and fuel tankers will also crossed over to Afghanistan while ensuring SOPs/protocols accordingly.

The government of Pakistan has also allowed the entry of Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan once a week on Saturday and maximum 500 and 300 individuals will be allowed from Torkham and Chaman border respectively. The export of food items (other than negative list) was also allowed under the notification.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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