Border Trade: Trucks Move Again After Nine-Day Halt

Freight trucks began crossing from Pakistan into Iran on Monday after a nine-day pause that started on October 17. The movement resumed at the Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan crossings in Balochistan province. This partial restart eases a bottleneck that had trapped goods and caused energy shortages in Pakistan.

Mir Naveed Jan Kalmati, president of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said trade partially resumed over the weekend. Border officials cleared consignments dated October 16 or earlier. Haji Noor Muhammad Shahwani, central president of the Balochistan Goods Truck Owners Association, confirmed that Pakistani exports like rice and bananas were moving across the border.

Trucks loaded in Iran before the closure are also entering Pakistan. Shahwani noted that vehicles carrying liquefied petroleum gas are clearing slowly. The halt in LPG flows caused severe shortages and price spikes in Pakistan, which imports most of its energy from the Middle East. This disruption added to economic pressures already felt from shipping issues in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rizwan Ahmed, a customs clearing agent near Gabd-Rimdan, said customs told agents to file declarations for the stranded trucks. He stated, "Customs has given us the go-ahead, saying, 'Bring in as much cargo as you can.'" Ahmed added that his own consignment of rice, retail goods, potatoes, and bananas had just left. He did not clarify if this rule applies to goods loaded after October 16.

Iranian officials claim the problem lies with new paperwork. Reza Amiri Moghadam, Iran’s ambassador to Pakistan, said on X that changes to Pakistan’s E-Form procedure have made it difficult for traders to dispatch cargo. He wrote that Iran placed no restrictions on exports and its borders remain open. The E-Form is used to record imports and track payments through banks.

The security halt followed an attack by gunmen on trucks waiting near Gabd on Thursday. The military said 10 attackers were killed in operations around Gabd and Gwadar, along with one civilian. Balochistan accounted for 131 of the 225 armed attacks recorded nationwide in September, the highest monthly total in 12 years, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

A memorandum from Pakistan’s Commerce Ministry dated October 16 withdrew a previous waiver on the E-Form. This change took effect immediately. Shahwani said the unloading problem for Iranian trucks has not been resolved, citing potential issues with banks and international trade channels.

Bakhtiar Ismail, deputy commissioner of Chagai, described the closure on October 18 as a temporary measure for border management and counterterrorism. Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said on Friday that Pakistan adheres to all applicable sanctions regimes. He noted he did not have direct knowledge of the ground situation and did not confirm whether the United States pressured Pakistan to close the border.