PESHAWAR: A Pakistani trade delegation`s talks with Afghan counterparts and senior functionaries were overshadowed by veiled complaints from the hosts about the `unpredictability` of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa`s land route due to protests and insecurity.

Trade delegates, who just returned after a three-day visit to Kabul, told Dawn that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf`s road blockade at Peshawar had added salt to injury for Pakistan`s trade with Afghanistan, making Afghans to go for other options to fulfill their import needs.

`They told us in plain words that Pakistan is no more their first option for bilateral and transit trades,` said Zahidullah Shinwari, president of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

A delegation of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, involving 21 businessmen and professionals from Karachi, Peshawar and other cities, undertook a three-day visit to Afghanistan from December 23.

Ziaul Haq Sarhadi, a director of the joint cham-ber, said Afghan businessmen and officials expressed displeasure over the ongoing road blockade at Peshawar.

`They complained that the road blockade in the name of stopping supplies to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has proved a last nail for the normal trade, adding to their costs of doing business with or via Pakistan,` said Mr Sarhadi.

The echoes of complaints about obstacles to normal trade because of the blockade made rounds during the delegation`s meetings with Afghans during the visit, according to delegates.

`We were not feeling comfortable about easing restrictions on trade with Pakistan because of troubles at home,` said Mr Shinwari when asked about the level of confidence with which they raised their issues with Afghan authorities in the face of PTPs ongoing road blockade against drone strikes since Nov 23.

He said the road protests had done more harm than good to strengthen trade ties between the two countries.

According to Mr Sarhadi, the delegation, led by the chamber`s co-chairman Zubair Motiwaala from Karachi, held meetings with senior Afghan functionaries, including the country`s vice-president Ustad Mohammad Karim Khalili, commerce minister Kargar, deputy commerce minister Muzzamal Shinwari, customs director Gul Bacha, and private businessmen.

The delegation focused on convincing the Afghans to lower import duties on Pakistani items from the existing ratio of 110 per cent. It solicitedfavourable treatment for visa applications by Pakistani businessmen. A case for waiving $100 fee on Pakistani containers on way to Central Asian markets via Afghanistan was also made.

Mr Sarhadi said they also suggested the Afghan authorities to construct `export houses` and warehouses to help exporters save money spent on handling charges and demurrage.

On their part, said Mr Shinwari, the Afghans raised the delays in clearance of their transit trade items at Karachi. Afghans, he added, complained that delay in clearing the consignments caused them Rs200,000 to Rs250,000 additional costs on account of detention charges.

`They said that they had already diverted their transit business to Iran,` said the KPCCI chief, adding the recent road blockade had strengthened their idea of taking Pakistan as the second option for trade.

Though the senior Afghan functionaries, said Mr Shinwari, did not refer to the PTFs ongoing road seizure, they did express their reservations tacitly.

The Afghan authorities, said the businessman, pointed out that Pakistan had subjected the transit good to Afghanistan to five different types of securities,includinginsurance, digital trackers and other conditions, at a time when it could not guarantee an unhindered land route for transporters.

They told the delegates, said Mr Shinwari, that they did not consider Pakistani route dependable and as a result they had already shifted 70 per cent of the transit business to Iran.