‘Mobile bombs’ in Balochistan

The tragic accident on March 22 gave us an idea about how catastrophic it can be if a passenger bus carries thousands of litres of diesel and oil. All the 38 passengers onboard were burnt to death and their bodies were charred beyond recognition. Though the tragedy saddened everyone in the country, it was a moment of the greatest worry for those living in Balochistan. Thousands of buses and trucks carrying smuggled Iranian diesel and petrol freely frequent this province on an almost daily basis.

These ‘mobile bombs’ are never stopped on the many check posts set up by paramilitary troops (the Frontier Corps, police and Balochistan Levies) which pepper the Pak-Iran border. Balochistan shares more than 900 kilmetres of border with Iran; transporters and law enforcers here are comparatively very rich, minting millions on a daily basis. It is widely known that many officers, whether in the security forces or in the local administration, are willing to pay a huge chunk of money as bribe for lucrative postings in the Iranian border region, so that they too get their share from smuggling of goods, mainly petrol and diesel.

This has now become an organised business on both sides of the international frontier. Officials at the highest level are involved in smuggling of oil to Pakistan. One can see scores of vehicles loading petrol and diesel from the filling stations close to the border. This illegal business enjoys complete impunity not only because of the corrupt practices of law enforcers but also because the traffic involves either country’s interest too. The buses and oil tankers are not searched simply because Iranian and Pakistan officials have stakes in the smuggling business.

Iran is oil rich and has endless resources of oil, but cannot trade its oil to other countries because of sanctions imposed by a number of Western countries. Pakistan, on the other hand, needs oil, but cannot legally import it, nor does it have the economic ability to pay the actual price to import it in terms of foreign currency. That is why smuggled petrol is openly sold at vending sites across the province and neighbouring cities under the patronage of law enforcers.

Of course, having said all that, it might be hard to completely end the smuggling, but it is certainly not difficult to bar passenger buses from carrying smuggled Iranian oil.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2014.