Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday directed the relevant law enforcement agencies, including the Frontier Corps, Pakistan Customs, district administrations, and National Logistics Cell (NLC) to expedite their efforts to completely curb the evil of smuggling. During a high-level meeting regarding the ongoing anti-smuggling drive in the country, the caretaker Prime Minister directed the concerned authorities to formulate a comprehensive mechanism for the provision of employment opportunities to the local people in the border-belt region and impart skill training to youths to curb the tendency of illegal works including Smuggling of goods, drug trafficking and harboring of criminals etc by the locals. The Premier also directed the Ministry of Trade to ensure strict monitoring of the transit trade and apprise the relevant authorities about the unlawful activities and crimes associated with transit trade meant for Afghanistan.
The smuggling of goods, foreign currency, animals, fuel, and food has shaped into a lucrative business for influentials, criminal gangs, smugglers, and lower class residing in the border belt areas that persistently inflict billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer on a regular basis. Historically, the mence of institutional corruption with in the state institutions including Customs, Excise & Taxation Department, Police, the Frontiers Crops, and local administrations whose officals perfrom checking and scrunity duties at border crossing points has shaped into oersisteent and uncurable disease in the country. The governmet officals often forge a nexus with anti-social elements and smugglers permitting them to transport their illegal cargo across the border or retrun custom free costly items from Afghan side into the country in reward for huge money. Reportedly, government officials carry out corrupt practices fearlessly and with complete impunity, while rates have been set for different things including electronics items, daily use commodities, flour, animals, vehicles, etc to pass through the border crossing and money is distributed among all concerned departments fairly to avoid complaint and mutual clash.
Over the decades, the successive governments failed to curb smuggling on permanent basis due to absence of strict accountability of the LEAs and checking staff at the border points. It is important that the government initiative a nationwide investigation on bank accounts, properties and financial assets of the past and serving government officials including the LEAs deputed on border crossing, air and sea ports to uncover truth about their corruption, and dishonesty with the nation. While strict financial monitoring be impose on government servants detailed on senstive positions and entry/exit points to permanently stall the menace of corruption, otherwise no recipe would work against this evil any time in the future.
