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Cattle smuggling continues
PESHAWAR, April 9: Cattle smuggling into
Afghanistan continues unabated through 'illegal'
permits allegedly issued by the political
administrations of several tribal regions. The
Economic Coordination Council, headed by the prime
minister, had in a directive issue a few months
ago, asked the political administrations not to
issue cattle permits to tribal traders.
The directive was issued following an allegation
involving local traders in large-scale smuggling
of cows and buffaloes to Afghanistan where the
demand for red meat had increased after the
repatriation of Afghan refugees from Pakistan and
Iran, sources told Dawn on Thursday.
The political administrations of Khyber, Mohmand,
Kurram and North Waziristan agencies have been
issuing permits to the tribal traders, allowing
them to bring cows and buffaloes from settled
areas to the tribal regions, the sources said.
Local cattle traders sell these permits to Afghan
traders, who smuggle cows and buffaloes to their
country causing a sharp increase in meat prices in
the NWFP. The provincial food department and the
Frontier Constabulary, which is responsible for
checking the illegal trade in the tribal region,
are alleged to be getting their "share" from
businessmen involved in the illegal trade.
The food department had set up a checkpoint headed
by an inspector at the Karkhano markets, the entry
point to the Khyber tribal region, the sources
said. "But they never check smuggling," they
claimed.
The demand for meat in each tribal region is
between 1,000 and 1,200 cattle-head per month. But
smugglers, in connivance with the authorities
concerned, bring approximately 5,000 cattle a
month to each tribal region for smuggling into
Afghanistan. There are no local Afghan breed of
cows and buffaloes and the Afghans depend on the
livestock coming from Pakistan.
The DAWN
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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