The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government has put the blame squarely on the federal government for providing opportunities to militants to raise funds by issuing irregular permits for cattle export to Afghanistan.
“Only 25,000 animals per year can be exported to Afghanistan but 25,000 animals are being sent on a daily basis,” provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, in response to a question by MPA Mufti Janan from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).
Hussain said that the money involved is used by various militant factions in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to fund terrorist activities.
He said that the network involved in the trade had been spotted and a crackdown against such elements was on the cards soon. “Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has directed all commissioners and district coordination officers to check every vehicle leaving for Afghanistan. Security has been tightened at the border,” he said.
Hussain said that permits issued were Xeroxed by several exporters and used by traffickers. “Therefore, the federal government has been informed that any permit issued should also be sent to the provincial government.
It is the federal government’s jurisdiction to export the specified quota in one day or one year but no vehicle will be allowed after the designated quota is met,” he said.
The provincial government has put forward the issue of illegal export of cattle at the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI). There has been a tremendous increase in the prices of food items and commodities after the Pak-Afghan Transit trade agreement.
Permits are issued by the interior ministry but several items have been illegally exported to Afghanistan, causing uproar on behalf of the government.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 23rd, 2011.
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