India, Pak to open borders to trucks

Both India and Pakistan decide to allow cross-border movement of goods from Oct 1 at the Wagah checkpost, reports Aseem Bassi.

The Governments of India and Pakistan have decided to allow cross-border movement of goods to designated points from October 1 at the Wagah checkpost.

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SK Swami, Director (Border Management) Ministry of Home Affairs said, "Indian trucks can go into Pakistani territory and Pakistani trucks can come into Indian territory. The trucks can come up to customhouses of both countries on the border" for unloading or reloading.

Earlier, porters of both countries walked more than a kilometer with luggage on their heads to the Indo-Pak joint check post at Wagah where they exchanged their loads. Initially, this cross truck movement will start from the existing border gates from October 1 but both countries would construct separate gates to be exclusively used for truck movement, Swami said.

Swami said, "The truck drivers will need no passports, visas and international driving license and a system will be adopted wherein they will be issued single entry computerised permits. These permits would contain, a picture of the driver, his name, address, license number and details of vehicle."