Reopening of all crossing points demanded

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): The government of Pakistan has been urged to immediately reopen all crossing points with Afghanistan from Gwadar to Chaman.

Haq Do Tehreek (HDT) head Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, who is also a member of the Balochistan Assembly, estimated border trade offered jobs to three million people.

Peace would elude the southwestern province without offering alternative employment opportunities to the people, had told a news conference in Quetta on Tuesday.

The legislator assailed the Apex Committee, which ordered the closure of the crossing points, for growing poverty and unemployment in Balochistan.

He commented: “The government justifies these closures by labelling border trade as smuggling, but it has done nothing to provide alternative employment to the almost three million people whose livelihoods depend on trade with Afghanistan and Iran.”

Desperate for work, labourers risked their lives by using dangerous routes on which they suffered accidents, vehicle fires and engine malfunctions on boats, he said.

Rehman opined: “If the government cannot provide jobs, it should at least reopen the crossings to let people earn their livelihoods.”

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