ISLAMABAD: The caretaker government is said to have constituted an inquiry committee to investigate the smuggling of Afghan transit trade goods.

Sources said as per the Prime Minister’s Office letter, the caretaker prime minister has constituted an inquiry committee to investigate rampant smuggling of Afghan transit trade goods, with special focus on the abnormal increase in the volume of Afghan transit trade in the financial year 2022-23.

The committee would be headed by AD Khowaja, secretary Ministry of Human Rights and Nabeel Ahmed Awan, principal secretary to governor Punjab, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, Ex-Member Customs (retired), and Dr M Saeed Khan Jadoon, Ex-Member (Policy) Customs (retired) would be the members of the committee.

Afghan transit trade: Four-member body to probe abnormal increase in volume of goods

The Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the Inquiry Committee included; (i) reasons for failure of FBR to monitor ATTA goods volume, and flag abrupt increase for appropriate redressal in a timely manner;(ii) historical trends of volume of goods imported through Pakistan under APTTA;(iii) reasons for steep rise in ATTA imports in fiscal year 2022-23, with enforcement/policy failures; (iv) estimation of volume of smuggling based on demand/supply analysis of smuggling prone items with particular focus on re 2022-23; (v) inadequacies of current tracking system deployed by FBR to prevent dropping enroute; (vi) responsibility for reverse flow of ATT cargos from Afghanistan to Pakistan through customs border points and unfrequented routes; (vii) role of Pakistan Customs officials, border security forces and other government entities in weak enforcement leading to huge influx of smuggled goods; (viii) legal lacunas, if any, contributing to ineffective border interdiction; (ix) policy issues contributing to current magnitude of smuggling; (x) fixing responsibility for failure in regulation of ATT and prevention of large-scale smuggling leading to huge losses for the economy of the country; and (xi) way forward and suggestion for improvement of transit trade system, (policy response, tracking systems, effective enforcement) leading to maximum facilitation of legitimates transit trade while effectively interdicting illicit trade at borders.

The Ministry of Commerce will provide secretarial support to the inquiry committee and issue notification of the committee at the earliest.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023