Supplying NATO most humiliating job: Drivers

Cleaners are asked to sit on the roof of vehicles to prevent attacks.

PESHAWAR:

Fahad Khan* thinks he has the most humiliating job in the world. A truck driver who carries Nato supplies to Afghanistan is abused by all, he says.

Attacks on vehicles of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) occur several times a week. Carrying 80,000 litres of petrol under imminent threat of attacks is truly a tough job.

It’s more dangerous for the cleaners. Truck driver Said Khan said that since the past year authorities have made it obligatory to make the cleaner sit on the roof of the vehicle in the journey from Chulghpura in Peshawar to Torghundi area, close to the Pak-Afghan border in Khyber Agency. “It is inhuman to make a person sit on top of a vehicle without any regard for winter, summer, rain or scorching heat,” he said. If the cleaner is not seen sitting on the roof, authorities fine them between Rs4000 to Rs10,000.

Wahidullah, a cleaner told The Express Tribune that his cousin Amanullah was killed in a militant attack on a tanker. “What can we do sitting on top of a tanker when militants attack a vehicle?” he said.

On Tuesday, around 200 such drivers protested on the Grand Trunk (GT) Road in Peshawar saying that police was not allowing them to proceed because of security concerns.

After the protest they were allowed to go, but when they reached at Takhta Baig checkpoint in the limits of Jamrud tehsil of Khyber Agency, they were asked to go back, as they can only cross the point at 10 am in the morning.

“They did not allow us to go because we reached there after 10 am,” Fahad said. He left Karachi on February 19 and still has not crossed the Khyber Pass to enter Afghanistan. “When we travel at a stretch, a trip takes at least 10 days, otherwise, it takes up to a month,” he said.

Fahad said he earns Rs10,000 and get Rs7,000 per trip. But he feels nothing compensates to the threats they face during their journey. “It is because of poverty that we are in this business, otherwise, we would not be doing such a dangerous job,” he said.

The trucking business between Afghanistan and Pakistan is mostly dominated by Afridi and Shinwari tribesmen from Khyber Agency. According to the drivers, at least 5,000-6,000 such vehicles supply fuel to Afghanistan.

President Khyber Agency Truckers Association Shakir Afridi told The Express Tribune that so far at least 1,070 tankers have been destroyed in attacks on Nato supplies from 2002 to present. During this period, 85 drivers have been killed and 120 others injured, he said. “Only those people who can’t do anything else are in this business,” he said. From Mianwali to Torkham, police, restaurant owners, political authorities and all absolutely everyone else detests truck drivers as they think these people bring trouble, he added.

Said who belongs to Khyber Agency said they are afraid of talking to anyone about their problems. “I fear that if I talk to someone, I will be beheaded.”

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2011.