Karachi to Afghanistan: Transporters suspend NATO supplies in protest

Say the bonded carrier system has resulted in loss of revenue, lower fares.

PESHAWAR:

Expressing reservations over the ‘bonded carrier system’ introduced by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the Khyber Trailers’ Drivers and Workers Union (KTDWU) has announced to suspend all types of supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan from today (Wednesday).

Talking to journalists at the Peshawar Press Club, KTDWU Senior Vice President Muhammad Yousaf alleged that the FBR has issued freight-forwarding contracts to 40 favoured companies giving very low fares to transporters who carry goods from Karachi to Afghanistan.

“With the introduction of this new system, we cannot carry any type of goods without the permission of licence holders. If any other company wants us to transport goods for them, these licence holders do not permit us to do so. Instead, they ask us for Rs15,000 as bribe,” Yousaf alleged.

The transporters association also demanded the elimination of ‘de-sealing’ for Afghanistan-bound vehicles which bars them from carrying other goods even after they have reached their destination across the border.



Under this system, licenced companies issue a ‘seal’ to each truck carrying goods to Afghanistan. This seal is a set of customs documents which hold the vehicle responsible for containers it is carrying to Afghanistan.

“Hundreds of workers are associated with this business but since the National Logistic Cell (NLC) has placed a bar on supply of goods, these workers from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are unemployed,” he added.

KTDWU General Secretary Sikandar Hayat said the government is to provide monetary aid to those injured or killed in bomb blasts, but that the union had lost many drivers and cleaners in scores of attacks and none of them had been compensated so far.

He added the owners give Rs500,000 to families of drivers and cleaners who are killed in any type of terrorist attack on Afghanistan-bound vehicles, and Rs200,000 to injured workers who are vulnerable to such attacks while travelling from Karachi to their destinations.

“The government had promised to address our problems when transporters in Karachi boycotted supply for 12 days, but not a single demand has been fulfilled yet,” said Hayat.

He said there were around 4,000 trailers in their union and hundreds of workers would be unemployed as a result of the strike, but they will continue protesting till the FBR replaces the bonded carrier system with the earlier NLC one.

Earlier, All Pakistan Goods Transporters Ittehad staged a demonstration on Monday on Mauripur Road in Karachi against the country’s tax collection body and Pakistan Customs. They have not supplied a single truck of goods to Afghanistan in the last four days.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2013.