Pakistan Reopens Pishin Border to Facilitate Imports from Iran

Pakistani officials have announced the reopening of Pishin border crossing, a gateway to neighboring Iran, to resume imports of goods amid the coronavirus pandemic. Accordingly, the border crossing, located in Iran’s southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province, is now open for trading food products every other day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. A maximum of 50 trucks, pickup, and mini trucks are allowed to pass through the border crossing. Meanwhile, Rimdan border crossing, also on the Iran-Pakistan frontier in Sistan and Baluchestan province, reopened on April 25 but Mirjaveh border is still closed. Pakistan first closed its eastern and western borders with Iran, Afghanistan and India on March 15 to contain the spread of the new coronavirus. Iranian border crossings of Milak, Mahiroud and Dogharoun linking Afghanistan are open for trade. As of Sunday, 97,424 patients in Iran had tested positive with the novel coronavirus, of whom 78,422 have recovered and 6,203 have lost their lives. - Mehr