Riaz Baloch:
Owners of small vehicles blocked the main Pak-Iran route in the Dalbandin area of Balochistan on Monday. The small vehicle owners were protesting against raids against small traders by customs and other law enforcement agencies.
According to the sources, forces have started a crackdown to stop the smuggling of sugar, flour, Iranian petrol, and diesel, due to which hundreds of small car owners have shut down the Pak-Iran road in protest.
Haji Naseer Sumalani, a member of the #PakIran trade committee apprising #AssistantCommissioner #Dalbandin about the blockade of highway and the issues faced by small traders pic.twitter.com/zTwHHVEbGF
— Quetta Voice (@VoiceQuetta) April 17, 2023
Long queues of vehicles were witnessed on the route
There were queues of small and big vehicles because of the blockade of the route. The passengers of the coaches spent hours stuck in Dalbandin. The owners of small vehicles told Daily Quetta Voice that there is no factory etc and the people were dependent on border trade.
Protesters however oppose sugar smuggling to Afghanistan
In the entire Chagai including Dalbandin, most of the people are unemployed and the borders of Iran and Afghanistan are connected with the Pakistan border the border trade is the main source of income for the people, they mentioned.
He said that people should be allowed to trade Iranian petrol and diesel so that people can have two meals a day. We are not in favor of sugar-flour smuggling into Afghanistan, the protesters said.
Commodities should not be smuggled to Afghanistan, the traders demanded.
Later on, Assistant Commissioner Abdul Basit, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC), Asad Khan, DSP Sikandar Hayat Jamali, and other officials held negotiations with the protesters. They assured that the grievances of the traders would be addressed and subsequently, the protesters reopened the highway for traffic.
