Thousands of truck drivers on strike against ‘illegal’ taxes

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Thousands of truck drivers in different provinces have been striking over the past few days, claiming that police and transport officials illegally take money from them on highways.

They claim that they are not only being extorted, but stopped for hours, harassed and even shot at, with several drivers losing lives and sustaining injuries in recent incidents.

Dad Mohammad, a truck driver on the Kabul-Herat highway, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the strike had been ongoing across the country over the past few days. He said thousands of drivers were protesting and had their trucks parked.

He said the Ministry of Transport had once again started charging drivers under different pretexts by its departments, even though the charges were banned under a presidential decree.

Ten months ago, he said, a presidential decree ordered payment of taxes by drivers at customs offices instead of giving them to commissioners because 80 percent of the taxes were used to be embezzled.

According to him, after the appointment of the new minister, the old practice has revived, with transport officials standing on roads with sticks in their hands. He said problems were created for drivers and their trucks were stopped for hours under different pretexts.

He also said on the Kabul-Herat highway from Ghazni to Farah, police and local police personnel were extorting and harassing drivers.

“The police threaten drivers at gun-point and tell us give one thousand or five thousands afghanis. If one denies, the police start beating and even shooting,” he said.

He said the situation was intolerable for drivers and they were forced to stage protests and go on strike.

Haji Khairullah, another driver, told Pajhwok that he had repeatedly been insulted, beaten and even shot at on the Kabul-Herat highway.

He added police had set up check-points on the route, forcing drivers to stop and give money.

According to him, if a driver disobeys the police, the police open fire at his vehicle and unloads his goods from the truck.

He also said the president had closed transport checkpoints a few months ago, but the new minister re-established them, placing three or four containers along the highway in each province and charging thousands of afghanis per vehicle.

The protestors warned of permanent boycott of their work if the issue was not immediately resolved.

Kandahar deputy police chief Gen. FaridMashal told Pajhwok that not a single penny was taken from any driver in Kandahar province on Kabul-Herat highway. But he acknowledged that the issue existed in other provinces.

He also said drivers previously used to pay their duties at customs but now they paid on highways to transport officials.

First Vice President AmrullahSaleh on Tuesday said that Haji Haider, director of Afghanistan Fruits and Vegetables Association, and Haji Mirwais, deputy head of the union’s agriculture federation, had briefed him on the issue.

Saleh said the issue would be taken seriously and all elements involved in the economic sabotage, whether in the private or public sector, would be prosecuted.

He wrote in his today’s report that efforts were underway to resolve the issue in the earliest possible.

sa/ma

 

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