Smuggling of US dollars to Afghanistan sends ripples among policymakers in Islamabad: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], December 22 (ANI): The recent unearthing of unabated smuggling of US dollars to Afghanistan using orange crates has sent ripples among the policymakers in Islamabad. Policymakers in Pakistan are alarmed by the failure of the enforcement agencies to put an end to currency and goods smuggling, according to the Al Arabiya Post.
Recently, Pakistan's Finance Minister Ishaq Dar while chairing an emergency inter-ministerial meeting to review the smuggling, asked relevant authorities to come up with a roadmap to stop the cross-border smuggling and to protect Pakistan's economic and financial stability.
Dar in desperation said: "Can we afford this happening". He asked the law enforcement agencies to catch the responsible parties. In response to the meeting, customs within 24 hours, caught a person smuggling USD 100,000.
"Pakistan's porous borders and international airports have turned into dens of smuggling by Afghan smugglers. The smuggling figure is expected to be very high in value and many observers in Pakistan view that hard-earned dollars are smuggled out, adversely affecting Pakistan," stated the report by Al Arabiya Post.
The report also said that: "The full-blown economic crisis is prompting the Afghani smugglers to tap the US dollar in neighboring Pakistan. The reported incidents of dollar smuggling have been on the rise and Pak customs authorities made about 100 seizures involving foreign currency equivalent to USD 4.2 million."
Pak-Afghan border smuggling is not new. Pakistan imported wheat and urea is also being smuggled into Afghanistan which has an acute shortage of these items. All the items on which Afghanistan slapped Regulatory Duty are now being moved to Afghanistan under the guise of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).
Recently, the Afghan Diaspora Network reported that Pakistani agents are robbing Afghanistan of its cultural heritage by smuggling ancient idols and other artifacts from the war-torn country.
The smuggling is done by a global racket of smugglers who are facilitated by local Afghan officials. Major support to the crime is provided by actors working from the territory of neighbouring Pakistan.
It is an open secret that many ancient Afghan scriptures/idols have found their way into the international grey market through Pakistan, reported the Afghan Diaspora Network.
Afghanistan often referred to as the heart of Asia, is endowed with a great cultural heritage. However, centuries of upheaval in the form of political instability and violence did not allow it to reflect upon this enormous asset and experience its vastness.
An important pillar of this heritage is Buddhism which was a major influence here before the 10th century. In Afghanistan, Buddhist cave temples are concentrated in three regions: Jalalabad, Haibak, and Bamiyan. (ANI)