Wheat transfer from India to be completed in April

PESHAWAAR (Pajhwok): Faced with rising food insecurity, Afghanistan has received 10,700 tonnes of wheat from India so far through the Wagah border.

The remaining 39,300 tonnes were expected to reach the war-torn country by the end of next month, a leading Pakistani newspaper reported.

Dawn quoted an unnamed official as saying: “Five convoys of Afghan trucks collected wheat consignments at Attari from Indian authorities and returned via Wagah and Torkham.”

The five consignments accounted for almost 10,700 tonnes of the total 50,000 tonnes pledged to Afghanistan by India on humanitarian grounds.

The official added the fifth convoy of 39 trucks returned to Afghanistan after loading 2,000 tonnes of wheat from Indian on Friday.

In February, Pakistan promised facilitating the entry of Afghan trucks into its territory via Torkham and ensuring their safe movement to Wagah and back to Nangarhar province.

At Torkham, Afghan truckers are issued with travel authorisation certificates that are also emailed to authorities at the Wagah border.

After transporting the wheat, the newspaper said, the drivers had to submit/return the documents to authorities at Torkham.

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