At Torkham: Illegal border crossings increase as fewer visas issued

Making it easier for Afghans to enter legally would help monitor them in country

PESHAWAR/ LANDIKOTAL: As a result of visa restrictions and security complications, the entry of Afghan nationals with valid travelling documents via Torkham Border is on the decline. However, it appears, illegal crossings remain constant, if not on the rise.

Recently, Pakistan decided not to issue any more multiple- entry visas for Afghan nationals through its diplomatic missions in Afghanistan. Pakistani diplomatic missions in the neighbouring country are now issuing single and double-entry visas to Afghans.

FIA passport (immigration) official at Torkham, Sohail Khan, confirmed to The Express Tribune the decrease in the entry of Afghan nationals. “Now 1,500 Afghans enter Pakistan with valid visas on a daily basis; there was a time it would cross 3,000,” Sohail said. He added with the passage of time, this number will decrease further.

Border hopping

Immigration and civil administration officials, requesting anonymity, said there was a definite increase in the number of Afghan nationals crossing over without a visa or other travel documents.

Most of these are Pukhtuns, they claimed, have close relatives and friends in Pakistan. Some of the illegal entries possess dual nationalities or run established businesses in Pakistan.

According to as yet unauthenticated data, 25,000 to 30,000 Afghans cross the border between the two countries daily.

Officials said the entry of Afghan nationals with valid visas and travel documents could help resolve certain problems; particularly violence and terror. All Afghan nationals who enter Pakistan legally have to share the name of their hosts with the special branch police at Torkham.

Inside Afghanistan, Pakistani diplomatic missions at Kabul, Jalalabad, Qandahar, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif continue to clamp down on the number of visas issued.

Web-based system introduced for customs clearance

To commemorate International Customs Day, Peshawar Collectorate of Customs has launched a system that would check imported items, including cotton and coal, at Torkham Border.

The system called WEBOC, Web-Based One Custom, was inaugurated by Peshawar Customs Collector Qurban Ali Khan. While addressing the audience, Qurban Ali said WEBOC would be limited to clearing imported items, but with the passage of time more items would be included to the list.

This, he said, would help the clearance of loaded trucks.

He added the WEBOC system would soon be launched at the newly established customs posts in Kurram Agency.

While speaking about the progress made in the customs department, Qurban Ali said about two decades ago, the department had only one collector for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Gilgit-Baltistan, but now there are around 1,000 officials in just K-P.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2016.