The Abdoi Buleda border crossing will reopen on Monday, October 26, the Kech district administration has announced, while vehicle owners involved in the fuel trade alleged that access was being restricted to favoured individuals.
An official notice said a list of 300 vehicles under Turbat’s turn-allocation system would be issued on Sunday, October 25. The listed vehicles would reach the crossing on Monday to load fuel.
According to the administration, the inspector general of Frontier Corps (FC) South Balochistan announced the reopening at a meeting on Saturday with government officials, local government representatives, traders, community figures and elders. The notice said the decision was intended to facilitate the public and address traders’ financial difficulties.
Owners of small and large vehicles contacted by The Balochistan Post called the reopening announcement a “publicity stunt”. They alleged that FC officials, working with the district administration, had drawn up a list favouring a select group rather than providing access to ordinary traders.
Thousands of people across Makran and other parts of Balochistan depended on the fuel trade, the vehicle owners said, but the permit lists included only people favoured by FC officials and those who allegedly paid extortion money.
They said a Zamyad driver earned between Rs20,000 and Rs30,000 from one load a week, alleging that personnel at checkpoints along the route collected half of those earnings.
The owners questioned why, if the crossing was being opened to everyone, only a few individuals were being allowed to decide which vehicles could travel there.
They demanded permission to trade freely as they had in the past, saying access should be available to everyone without discrimination.