Kochi: Closure of trade routes to Pakistan has led to Islamabad losing $1.5 billion annually triggering large scale unemployment in Pakistan. Agriculture, poultry industry and exports are the major sectors affected by Pakistan which has also closed its routes to Kabul who have also hit.Closure of the Torkham and Chaman crossings over the past 10 to 11 months has placed traders under severe financial and psychological pressure, Pakistan’s Dawn said. Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, senior vice-president of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said Pakistani traders have lost nearly $1 billion from this sector over the past 10 months.Pakistan also exported goods worth about $800 million annually to Central Asian countries through Afghanistan.Pakistan’s import of cheap cotton, pulses and other goods from Central Asia through Afghanistan have been hit.Sarhadi said the suspension of this route over the past 10 months had cost Afghan exporters nearly $200 million.Afghanistan’s annual exports to India through the Wagah crossing were worth about $300 million.He said it had left millions of people directly and indirectly jobless, while Pakistan’s treasury had lost billions of rupees in customs and tax revenue.
Pak-Kabul trade suspension hit both
