Due to the lack of a country of origin certificate from Afghanistan, around 1,700 vehicles were stranded on both sides of the border, causing severe difficulties for transporters.The vehicles stranded on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border include coal and soapstone vehicles. Due to the lack of clearance for the past week, long queues of vehicles have formed at Torkham and Kharlachi.
According to Jamshed Khan, who is associated with the coal trade, the main reason for the suspension of clearance of coal and soapstone vehicles is the country of origin certificate issued by the Afghan government. Earlier, Pak-Afghan traders used to work on electronic import forms. After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the Pakistani government had abolished the electronic import form due to the impact on the banking system. According to Jamshed, in Pak-Afghan trade, the tax rate on Central Asian and Iranian products is different from Afghan products. Therefore, to prevent Central Asian and Iranian products from being counted as Afghan products, the government made it mandatory for Afghan traders to have a country of origin certificate, which contains four things. The first one includes the name of the exporter, importer, weight and value. Now, traders are facing difficulties due to errors in this certificate issued by the Afghan government, due to which hundreds of freight vehicles are parked on both sides of the border.
Now the Afghan government does not include the exporter’s name in the country of origin certificate or does not have the full details of the importer, which also delays the clearance of vehicles.
According to Jamshed,
due to the suspension of clearance of coal and soapstone vehicles, not only traders are facing difficulties, but government revenues are also being severely affected. A tax of Rs. 300,000 is being collected on one vehicle, now the government treasury is also facing a loss of crores of rupees on the basis of 17 vehicles.
According to Jamshed, a delegation of coal and soapstone importers also met Sadiq Khan, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Trade and Special Representative for Afghanistan, in Islamabad and apprised him of the issues related to the clearance of the two minerals imported from Afghanistan. Describing the meeting as fruitful, he said that former Ambassador Sadiq Khan first assured him of his full cooperation in clearing the backlog of stranded vehicles and then in finding a peaceful solution to the issue with Afghan authorities and FBR officials in Islamabad, but no progress has been made in this regard so far.
When contacted, Ziaul Haq, the Border President of Frontier Customs Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said that he had informed the Pak-Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry several times about this issue and that the Afghan government should find an immediate solution to this issue. This certificate is necessary because there is a difference in tax rates between Central Asian and Afghan products. Earlier, Central Asian products were cleared after which the country of origin certificate was made mandatory. Along with this, another problem will come after July 31, which is the temporary entry document (TAD) which is the visa of the driver and conductor. Earlier, the drivers and conductors of vehicles used to enter Pakistan without a visa. Now, according to the new policy of the government, a visa has been made mandatory for them. If the Afghan government does not take steps for this, then after July 31, their drivers and conductors will also not be able to enter Pakistan without a visa.
He said that the Afghan government considers its law to be necessary for our vehicles and does not allow more than 35 tons of weight in a vehicle, but when it comes to Pakistan’s law, it blames its own weaknesses on us.
According to driver Muhammad Allah, who has been at the Torkham border for the past week due to the lack of a country of origin certificate, the customs authorities are not clearing the vehicle due to the lack of a certificate, due to which hundreds of vehicle drivers, including me, are facing serious difficulties.
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