Pak traders accuse customs officials of ‘mistreatment’
BAREILLY: At least nine Pakistani traders who have come to India to participate in a lifestyle exhibition have alleged mistreatment by Indian customs officials at the Wagah border. Many have said their cargo was seized and they were forced to pay ‘exorbitant’ custom duty by the officials, who allegedly also abused them.
“Our wares were seized and we were ill-treated by the customs officials at Wagah border. Some officials even abused us and called us liars as they refused to believe that we had come for an exhibition,” alleged a woman trader, who refused to reveal her identy and give further details fearing a backlash.
Reports said 24 traders from Pakistan had come to India from the Wagah border between October 21 and 30 to attend a lifestyle exhibition organised in various parts of the country. The exhibition was organised in Bareilly from November 1-4 and these traders will now proceed to Lucknow for a similar event.
Talking to HT, at least nine traders said they were mistreated and over charged by customs officials.
Another trader said on condition of anonymity that while their baggage was charged on the basis of its weight in March this year, they were now charged for each piece of cloth they had brought. “For example, if one ‘dupatta’ cost us `200, we had to give at least `500 in duties for that piece. And we had no option but to pay because if we had refused, they would have arrested us for smuggling,” he said. Sapna Kavita Oberoi, a member of the Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce—a private Pakistani organization that is organizing the event, said, “Some of the traders have complained to us about such behaviour by customs officers and we strongly condemn it.”
She added that the governments of both the countries should fix a certain percentage of custom duty on such items to generate revenue and decrease smuggling of goods across the border.
While all numbers listed on the Internet for customs officials at the Wagah Border went unanswered, deputy director of UP tourism in Bareilly Preeti Srivastava, who is the head of the organizing committee of the exhibition, expressed her inability to do anything about the issue. “We cannot do anything about this except intimate our seniors,” she said.