(April 17, 2020)
FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel SVP, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said Pak-Afghan border should be reopened completely to avoid shortage of essential items and necessary raw material for the industrial sector.
Partial reopening of trade at both entry points is not serving the purpose as the traders from both sides of the divide are facing heavy losses, he said.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that thousands of containers and men are stranded at both sides of the border with not a single reported case of coronavirus.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that border closure has to result in a shortage of different food items and raw material while uncertainty is hitting the business community.
The former minister noted that thousands of loaded containers on both sides of the border pose a security risk for the locals, therefore the area should be cleared.
He said that drivers and cleaners of vehicles are compelled to guard the merchandise while supply chain has broken which must be restored immediately.
The business leader said that how come the Afghan Transit Trade cargo can become a threat on border points when the same is cleared from the port in Karachi and allowed to transport it from Karachi to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said that the exporters and importers are ready to pay the cost of disinfection if the government allows reopening of trade.
