PESHAWAR: The federal government has postponed reopening of the Ghulam Khan checkpoint on the Pak-Afghan border in North Waziristan Agency over security reasons, an official said.

The FBR official pleading anonymity said that law enforcers did not allow reopening of the border for security reasons. “We had sent our staff to the border point for carrying out initial duties and completed all other arrangements, but the government postponed its reopening till further orders,” the official said.

The border was about to open on July 3 after a period of four years and it was warmly welcomed by the business community.

According to officials and business community, this route is usually used for export of cement, fruits, and other consignments mainly coming from Karachi and other parts of the country via southern districts.

However, the FBR official expressed the hope that the route would be reopened next week because the customs staff had already reached there.

The official said that the Ghulam Khan border would help improve revenue of the country as it was very important link between Pakistan, Afghanistan and other central Asian states.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2017