Tough conditional ties in Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) discouraged Afghan traders to transport their goods through Pakistan; diverting 70 per cent business to Bandar Abbas and Chabahar Sea ports of the neighbouring Iran. According to sources in the Ministry of Commerce, the higher authorities of Pakistan had felt the economic loss inflicted on Pakistan in wake of the APTTA and now they had decided to review the agreement and woo the Afghan transit trade back to Pakistan.
An Afghan transit trade related trader told this scribe that Afghan Transit Trade Agreement 1965 was comprised of 15 clauses and only one Protocol while the new agreement known as APTTA has 58 clauses and three Protocols. In previous agreement, the transportation was the mandate of only Pakistan Railways, but the new agreement allowed bonded carriers, which resulted in notorious container scam.
The container scam has rattled not only the government functionaries, but also the business community concerned and the later are holding no other than the new agreement responsible for it, which had opened new lacunas. Furthermore, the tough condition like ban on the transportation of loose cargo under SRO 121 has also discouraged transportation of Afghanistan bound goods through Pakistan. Similarly, part-shipment and de-stuffing are also disallowed and clearing agents are facing severe difficulties in getting bank guarantees.
Though in case of loss to the goods, the bonded carrier should be responsible for payment of compensation, but under the new agreement, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has protected only its own interest and leaving the owner of the good in quandary. In past, Pakistan Railways was used to pay compensation of the losses and the interest of the business community was also secured. The lack of guarantee of the safe transportation is also identified as big reasons behind the diversion of the transit trade to Iran.
The business circles attribute the container scam to the lack of guaranteeing secured transportation of the goods. The scam has plunged about 450 customs clearing and border agents into trouble and they are facing the hardships of proceedings in National Accountability Bureau (NAB). But, the passage of two years, NAB has yet to present proof against any customs clearing or border agent.
In such a situation, the customs clearing, forwarding and border agents from time to time are demanding relief from NAB, FBR authorities and concerned customs collectorates, but in vain. The new agreement, they said had been flopped as Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PAJCCI), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KPCCI), Chaman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) and other trade associations have expressed severe reservations on the APTTA. These trade bodies are constantly demanding redressal of the difficulties of Afghan transit trade related business community by the federal government and preparation of mechanism in consultation with chambers for provision of relief to business community.
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