Amritsar: Afghan truck drivers’ strike enters Day 2

Amritsar, October 23

Due to the strike call given by Afghan truck drivers coinciding with the weekend and Diwali holidays, the bilateral trade between India and Afghanistan is likely to remain stalled till Monday.

Madal Lal, an official of the Land Port Authority of India, said before Saturday on an average, 25 trucks and more had been crossing over to India from the Attari-Wagah Joint check post daily. Before the strike came into effect in the afternoon, the Integrated Check Post (ICP) had received only six trucks during the early hours of yesterday.

Rajan Bedi, an importer, said he interacted with a Pakistan-based importer and exporter Asif Nazir, who told him that Afghan truck drivers had stopped under-transit trucks in the Pakistan territory.

The truck drivers are staging a strike, seeking the release of their fellow driver Pathan Abdul, who was arrested at the ICP on October 3 after a packet of 435-gm suspected heroin was found underneath his truck.