Saleh: Passengers’ problems in Torkham to be solved soon

KABUL (Pajhwok): First Vice President AmrullahSaleh said on Wednesday that passengers’ problems at Torkham would be solved soon as possible.

In a report after his 6:30am security meeting, Saleh wrote that complaints had been received about problems faced by passengers in Torkham.

He said action would be taken in coming days to address the problems and facilitate commuting.

Passengers on both sides of the border have to go through a hard time and have to wait for hours.

Saeed Ahmad, a resident of Kabul who went to Peshawar three days ago, said that after waiting for five hours, he was unable to cross the Torkham gate.

“I was standing in line from 2pm to 7pm and the Pakistani militia closed the gate and drove us back”, he said.

He said he stood in line again at 2am and walked past the gate in the morning.

Idris Ahmad, a resident of Nangarhar’s Behsud district, had a similar complaint. He said he waited in line for eight hours with his wife and small child.

He said it was midnight in Torkham when they left the hotel to stand in line.

Also on Wednesday, Governor Ziaul Haq Amarkhel said he had sent a delegation to Torkham to resolve problems being faced by commuters.

Addressing a public accountability program, he said there were many problems in Torkham in the past and now efforts were being made to resolve them.

Amarkhel said in addition to problems faced by passengers, there were also problems in transport, customs and other agencies.

NajibullahAhmadzai, Afghanistan’s consul general in Peshawar also visited Torkham a few days ago and spoke to local officials about problems of passengers.

It is worth mentioning that 20 transport workers of Torkham have been arrested by the Ministry of Interior’s Serious Crimes Unit on corruption charges.

Bk/ma