Smuggling
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has recently called for stringent disciplinary measures against officers found misusing the Afghan Transit Trade to facilitate smuggling.
During a high-level meeting aimed at curbing smuggling activities, the Prime Minister ordered the immediate removal of these officers from their current positions.
The meeting, which was convened on Friday, saw the Prime Minister expressing his appreciation for the full cooperation of Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir and other military officials in combating the illegal transport of goods across national borders.
The initiative marks a significant joint effort between the government and the military to address and mitigate smuggling operations. The directive from PM Shehbaz came following a detailed presentation of a report by an investigation committee led by former Sindh IGP AD Khawaja.
The findings of the committee provided crucial insights into the systemic issues and individual complicity within the transit trade operations. Further briefings during the meeting highlighted extensive smuggling activities involving not just transit trade misuse but also drugs, sugar, wheat, fertilizer, petroleum products, and illegal weapons.
The Prime Minister commended the investigative committee for its role in identifying both the individuals misusing the trade provisions and the officers facilitating this misconduct. A compiled list of implicated smugglers, hoarders, and officers has been dispatched to law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and provincial governments to facilitate coordinated action.
In his directives, PM Shehbaz stressed the importance of collaborative efforts between LEAs and intelligence agencies to root out smuggling networks.
He urged for an acceleration of the ongoing national campaign against smuggling and called for the implementation of immediate and necessary legislation to ensure the prosecution of smugglers and drug traffickers.
Acknowledging the broader social implications, the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of providing alternative livelihoods and creating a supportive environment for youths in frontier regions, who are often vulnerable to becoming involved in smuggling.
He advocated for enhanced monitoring of Afghan Transit Trade goods within the country and proposed a third-party audit to ensure the integrity of the monitoring system. The meeting also touched upon the issue of sugar smuggling, with the Prime Minister ordering the immediate release of funds for a study to assess the scale of drug consumption nationally.
As part of the broader anti-smuggling strategy, which is nearing its final stage of preparation, officials reported recent successes, including a major operation in Mastung, Balochistan, where LEAs raided a warehouse and seized contraband worth over Rs10 billion.
The meeting was attended by several key figures, including Federal Ministers Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi, Jam Kamal Khan, Ahad Khan Cheema, Rana Tanweer Hussain, Dr Musaddik Malik, and Azam Nazeer Tarar, along with the Chairman of the Federal Board of Revenue, the Attorney General, personnel from law enforcement agencies, and other senior officers.
The collective resolve demonstrated at the meeting highlights the government’s commitment to dismantling smuggling networks and reinforcing legal and economic order.
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