Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday formally inaugurated the opening of the Torkham border crossing for 24 hours.
The premier was accompanied by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan as he inaugurated the Integrated Transit Trade Management System. He was also given a briefing on the border terminal.
Addressing a press conference on the occasion, Prime Minister Imran said the round-the-clock opening of the border crossing will facilitate trade in the region.
“I consider this to be a very historic day,” he said, noting that trade with Afghanistan had jumped by 50 per cent during the trial of the 24/7 border opening alone.
He said the region will be transformed as soon as peace is established in Afghanistan and the trade activities will reach as far as Central Asia.
“The lives of people in this region will be changed,” he said, adding that Peshawar will become a regional hub of business activities which will generate employment opportunities.
Responding to a question regarding the opposition’s role in supporting government efforts, the prime minister said the opposition of the country was only concerned with a chance to escape accountability.
Citing developments in the recent joint session of parliament called in the National Assembly to show solidarity with occupied Kashmir, he said “the opposition’s only objective is for us to give them an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) somehow.”
“They have had a one-point agenda since we came into power. The opposition did not let me give a speech [in the NA] from day one only to blackmail me so that I come under pressure.”
The prime minister will also inaugurate Pak-Afghan Friendship Hospital at Torkham, reported Radio Pakistan, adding Afghan patients arriving in Pakistan via the crossing point will be provided medical facilities in the hospital.
