Islamabad:
The Senate Standing Committee on Funding on Wednesday referred to the question of 600 Iranian trucks stranded at the Pakistan-Iran border to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and recommended that the case be reviewed by the federal cabinet.
Iranian diplomats raised concern that Pakistan’s introduction of a bank guarantee requirement on Iranian trucks has resulted in daily losses of $ 2.2 million.
During a meeting with the chairman of Senator Saleem Mandviwalla in the Parliament House, Iranian diplomats informed the committee that Pakistan had reintroduced a bank guarantee requirement for Iranian trucks despite its removal in a 2008 agreement.
The diplomat pointed out that although Pakistan has imposed the condition, Iran has not placed any such restriction on Pakistani trucks.
In addition, the enforcement of this claim has seriously affected the bilateral trade, reducing the number of Iranian trucks entering Pakistan from 600 to 400 over six months, with some drivers waiting over a month at the border.
The diplomat also emphasized that free movement is a basic aspect of bilateral agreements, and the reopening of the Rimdan intersection was crucial to facilitating border trade.
Senator Saleem Mandviwalla said Pakistan and Iran are conducting trade through a barter. However, complicated customs regulations have brought transactions to standstill.
Senator Farooq Naek strongly criticized the situation and called it an eye opener and a shame, questioning why foreign diplomats had to remind Pakistan how to manage his own trade affairs.
He expressed frustration over the country’s governance and noted that no one seemed to work in national interest.
Similarly, Senator Shibli Faraz’s bureaucracy accused of creating obstacles instead of facilitating trade and criticizing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of not helping traders despite the backlog of Iranian trucks.
Senator Anusha Rahman threw customs officials for creating unnecessary obstacles and arguing that they had turned customs into a personal business by demanding documents beyond their authority and forcing dealers to avoid bureaucratic loops.
In response, customs officials denied that the bank guarantee affected the border trade and clarified that Iranian trucks were granted approval without such conditions.
They claimed that goods cleared in Taftan did not require a bank guarantee and accused Iranian dealers of trying to transport duty -free goods from Taftan to Quetta, which was against rules.
Officials clarified that bank guarantee requirements used bilateral trading, not bartering, and that third -party goods could not enter Pakistan through the exchange system.
Then the panel decided to escalate the case to the prime minister and called on the federal cabinet to intervene and resolve the crisis.
