A plan for establishment of joint check posts close to international border in Fata has been approved to effectively curb the menace of smuggling. Under the plan, 17 check posts manned by custom, political administration and Frontier Corps will be established at different points right from Bajaur up to South Waziristan Agency.
A high level meeting with NWFP Governor Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah (Retd) in the chair held here at Governor's House on Wednesday reviewed different aspects of the plan in order to functionalise the proposed check posts and decided that all the check posts instead of those in South Waziristan Agency would become functional from September 01, 2004.
The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmed Qureshi, Secretary Home Abdul Karim Qasooria, Secretary to Governor Sahibzada Saeed Ahmad and Secretary Fata Security Brigadier Mahmood Shah (Retd) besides Inspector General Frontier Corps Major General Hamed Khan and Inspector General Police Riffat Pasha.
Collector Custom Liaquat Ali Agha briefed the meeting about the proposed plan of establishing joint check posts closed to the Pak-Afghan border.
It was told on the occasion that the plan has been chalked out as per decision by the ministry of interior to choke flow of smuggled goods closed to the border.
These check posts would be manned by the officials of Custom Collectorate besides scouts personnel and Khasadar Force. It was further told that all custom check posts established at different points in the province had been removed and the mobile squads disbanded.
However, information based anti-smuggling measures have been initiative to address the issue more perfectly. The new policy will not only choke the flow of smuggled goods but would also eliminate harassment by anti-smuggling agencies thus giving relief to the common commuters.
Talking on the occasion, the NWFP Governor Lieutenant General Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah (Retd) described the establishment of anti smuggling check posts close to the border as a significant step to curb the menace of smuggling, saying these check posts must prove effective.
He said that there seems to be no complexibility in functionalising these check posts in the tribal areas.
However, he assured that any problem or difficulty if surfaced would be removed. "We are here to find out and identify the problems and take remedial steps accordingly", he remarked.
The governor also laid stress on provision of permanent buildings for all these check posts and said, "for the time being casual arrangements should be made to smoothly sail the plan".
The governor also said that the custom officials should not worry about their safety and security because they would be jointly working with the law enforcement agencies and hoped that through joint and co-ordinated efforts all the set targets would be achieved.
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