PM Kakar warns crackdown on ‘smuggling industry’
ISLAMABAD (MNP) – Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Friday warned a consistent crackdown on illegal trade and said an effective management plan was being implemented to control cross-border smuggling.
“We have zero tolerance for those involved in the ‘smuggling industry’ and the law will take its course,” he said at a press conference held at the PM House.
The prime minister’s statement came in response to a question on Pakistan’s steps to control cross-border smuggling as the Torkham border with Afghanistan reopened this morning after nine days. Kakar said detailed deliberations were held on the Afghan transit trade and the reopening of Torkham border.
The commerce ministry has taken a lead along with border management authorities including customs in revising the policy to allow or restrict the trade items, he said. He dismissed the impression that checking on smuggling would deny a source of livelihood to the locals residing along the bordering areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The people of these provinces deserve a correct and healthy environment of trade, not smuggling, he said.
Asked about the involvement of Afghan refugees involved in cross-border smuggling, Kakar said an effective policy in this regard had been agreed upon. He categorised the Afghans living in Pakistan into three classes including those registered with the government, aliens with no justification to reside, and those with identity theft.
