Inadequate security: NATO truckers warn of suspending supplies

Oil tankers association says goods will not be sent across the border if drivers are not given protection.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Nato Oil Tankers Association has said that supplies to Afghanistan will be suspended if the provincial government and Nato do not provide adequate security measures.

The association’s president, Rafiullah Marwat, told The Express Tribune that the killing of two drivers in Afghanistan has spread fear among all drivers transporting supplies to foreign forces in the war-torn country.

If proper security measures are not taken on both sides of the Torkham border, the association will push to close these routes.

“The Pakistan government on this side of the border and Afghan government and Nato on the other side of the border have to ensure us full security on all roads so that we can minimise human loss,” Marwat said.

He also said that an independent inquiry should be conducted to determine why the tankers were allowed in Afghanistan when conditions were unsafe.

An official of the political administration in Khyber Agency, requesting anonymity, said that the process of allowing tankers to pass through the Torkham border begins with the customs collector’s office in Peshawar being informed about the security situation by the authorities.

After that, drivers are allowed to pass and the political administration is responsible for security.

The oil tankers association in Karachi have hinted that supplies may be resumed by the end of next month after a year-long break. “Two vehicles carrying oil to Nato forces in Afghanistan safely crossed the border and reached their destination, but they have not returned yet,” an administrator of the transport association said, adding that the tankers were not attacked.

Despite repeated efforts, the custom collector in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa could not be contacted for his comments over the issue.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2012.