Mohmand now welcomes visitors with a new facade

State-of-the-art gate built on the border between the agency and Charsadda.

SHABQADAR: When the British ruled these lands, one of their key concerns was building communication networks — roads, bridges, railway — for they knew that more than just a means for expanding their hegemony, construction of roads are the primary drivers of development.

It was thus a momentous moment when the newly built, state-of-the-art Mohmand Gate, on the border of Mohmand and Charsadda at Ekka Ghund, was opened for traffic on Thursday.



The opening ceremony for the Rs2.7 million gate — built within just six months — was attended by Mohmand Political Agent Mehmood Aslam, Senate Standing Committee for SAFRON Chairman Senator Hilalur Rehman, tribal elders and other high-ranking civil and military officers.

Aslam said that the gate and the corresponding road will help open a trade route between Pakistan and central Asian countries via Afghanistan.

He added that after peace was restored to the agency, developmental works in the agency have been accelerated with help from the Pakistan Army as a major part of the road between Mohmand and Bajaur Agency has been built. On the other hand, the road leading towards the Afghan border is being built on a priority basis.

Coupled with the reopening of the Gorsal border gate – closed for the past five years, trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan is expected to further improve.

Terming the newly-opened gate to be the second gate in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) after the historic Khyber Pass, he hoped that trucks of trade and investment will roll down into the agency.

He urged the business community to come forward and invest in the marble industry of Mohmand Agency.

Senator Rehman said that after the opening of the Ekka Ghund gate, the agency’s administration should work to open the Gorsal border gate to boost trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Noting that peace had been restored on Pakistan’s side of the border, he stressed that it was now the Afghan government’s responsibility to maintain peace on their side of the gate which will prove to be the shortest route for trade between Peshawar and Jalalabad.



Apart from hopes of trade restoration, the onset of peace had kindled hopes for the restoration of mobile telecommunication networks in Fata — which has been suspended since March 15, 2017.

In this regard, he said that they have a meeting scheduled with information technology officials of the government in Islamabad and that they are also expected to visit the agency sometime early
next year.

Tribal elders termed the construction of the gate a milestone in the development of the agency and hoped that together with the restoration of peace in the agency, it will help boost the marble industry in the agency.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2017.