Vicious cycle: Gandamars protest lack of job opportunities

Say in spite of crackdowns, police ask for bribes before letting goods go through

PESHAWAR: Transporters of smuggled goods, locally known as gandamars, gathered outside Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday to protest police action against their business. These non-customs paid items, including tyres, edibles, cooking utensils, electric appliances, cosmetics and other products, come into the country through Torkham Border, crossing check posts.

“We don’t have any other source of income,” said Hajra, who used to help smuggle fabric from Karkhano Market to General Bus Stand and other bazaars in the city via University Road. “If they want us to stop, they should provide us with job opportunities so we can earn a livelihood,” added Hajra.



The protesters held naan bread in their hands, symbolising a loss of livelihood. They said they bring items in small quantities to the markets in the city and deliver them to shops for just a few hundred rupees.

“Instead of stopping us, they should arrest the bigger smuggling gangs. They make a lot more money than us and have been running their illegal business for a long time,” said another protester.

No other means

Gandamars have continued with their activities for years. However, they say they have to bribe the police to make their way, which they cannot afford in their meagre income they earn. And banning gandamars leaves them out of an income.

“We are paid by bigger smugglers according to the volume of goods we carry in one trip. But we hardly make Rs500 per day as we do not have the strength to smuggle and make more than one trip a day,” a protester added.

However, some of the women directly take the goods through passenger buses to markets in Punjab, which enables them to earn more than the local facilitators.

“It is our responsibility to deliver the goods. If anything happens to them, we have to pay the smugglers out of our own pockets,” said Rukhsana Bibi. “The government needs to provide us with employment opportunities so that we do not have to rely on illegal businesses,” she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th,  2016.