Police check-posts in Landikotal demanded

LANDIKOTAL: The transporters and traders here on Sunday asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police high-ups to restore the police checkposts along the Karkhano markets on the Torkham highway.

Speaking at a press conference in Landikotal Press Club, Torkham Customs Clearance Agents Association chairman Mirajuddin Shinwari, Khyber Chamber of Commerce deputy president Zahirullah, Transporters Union president Azeemullah and Landikotal Bazaar Traders Union president Jafar Khan Shinwari said that the capital city police officer (CCPO) had ordered the removal of all the nine police checkposts from Karkhano markets on the Torkham highway.

They said robberies would take place on the road after the police disbanded the checkposts and left the road at the mercy of criminals and outlaws.

They said the CCPO must deploy extra police personnel on the road side checkposts to protect the vehicles carrying goods worth billions of rupees from and to Afghanistan.

The traders said they would stage a protest if the police dis not restore the checkpost on the Pak-Afghan highway.

Mirajuddin Shinwari said transporters and traders felt insecure after the police removed the checkpoints. He said truck drivers and their helpers were also asking for protection while traveling on the road at night.

He said traders had halted their goods transportation amid growing incidents on the Pak-Afghan highway.

He said the number of vehicles carrying import and export goods had been decreased and they did not want to put their life and property in danger. He said around 200 police personnel were deployed at the nine checkposts along the Pak-Afghan highway. Azeemullah Shinwari said that decision to remove the police checkposts was unrealistic as transporters demanded protection while traveling on the road. He said removing the police from the road would cause fear among the transporters and passengers traveling on the Torkham Road.