By Ghulam Amin Beg
A viral video from the bus station in Tashkurgan, the Chinese border town on the Karakoram Highway, has again highlighted long-standing frictions in the everyday management of the China-Pakistan frontier. The footage shows Chinese officers taking a firm approach with a group of young Pakistani men. Local accounts allege the men failed to observe queue discipline, disregarded standard procedures and caused delays for other passengers and transport staff. Independent verification of the precise circumstances remains limited, and Chinese authorities rarely issue public statements on routine border-management incidents.
The episode has revived a more consequential question: who is moving goods across the Khunjerab Pass in suitcases, and under what system? How disciplined are our young travelers and traders?
Seasoned traders in Gilgit-Baltistan with knowledge of the trade route say the traditional small-scale “carry” trade, limited quantities of goods transported by local residents on the daily buses between Tashkurgan and Sost, is under pressure. Some allege that border passes intended for Gilgit-Baltistan residents are being issued to outsiders, and that middlemen are deploying individuals who are not genuine traders simply to move cargo. These claims require independent verification.
It is important to distinguish this practice from pure smuggling. Similar border-pass arrangements exist between China and several of its neighbours precisely to support local livelihoods and small-scale cross-border commerce. Anthropologist Alessandro Rippa’s research showed that the Khunjerab suitcase trade rested on cross-border networks, information flows and practical knowledge of changing rules. Hasan Karrar has described a parallel “shadow” economy alongside the formal Silk Road, involving the movement of often-licit goods outside full documentation. For many small operators, the daily bus was the only affordable logistics option. Containers, clearing agents and warehousing remained beyond their reach.
The formal side of the border is, however, expanding rapidly. In fiscal year 2025-26, Pakistan Customs collected Rs14.93 billion in revenue on imports cleared through Sost Dry Port. Pakistani exports to China and Central Asia via the same route reached Rs2.8 billion, including cherries, pine nuts, dried apricots, herbs, rice and other local products. The China-Pakistan Action Plan for 2025-29 prioritises modernisation of the Khunjerab-Sost corridor, year-round operation, a “green channel” for agricultural and by-products, acceleration of single-window connectivity, and the electronic exchange of trade documents and data. In July 2026, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal directed the National Logistics Corporation to expand Sost Dry Port and develop the Khunjerab border terminal as a strategic export and regional trade hub.
These measures point toward a clear direction: less informal movement and more digitised, formalised processes. Identity verification, electronic records and traceability will become standard. In this environment, genuine small traders in Gilgit-Baltistan have both a challenge and an opportunity. They need to shift focus from informal carry trade to formalised micro-exports and micro-imports through innovative approaches. This includes simplified registration, digital invoicing, compliance with Chinese standards, and aggregation of small consignments into viable formal shipments. Building Sost into a genuine economic hub, with better warehousing, cold-chain facilities, training centres and business-support services, would give local operators a practical platform to participate in the upgraded corridor rather than remain on its margins.
At the same time, an independent and transparent inquiry remains necessary. Authorities should establish whether non-Gilgit-Baltistan residents are receiving passes reserved for local traders; whether middlemen are aggregating passes and quotas; whether larger operators are splitting shipments through individual travellers to avoid formal tax regimes; and whether holders of tourist-category passes are systematically using personal baggage allowances for commercial purposes. Chamber memberships, company registrations, business documents and bank statements submitted for trade passes also require effective verification.
The core questions are straightforward: who received the pass, on what basis, how much cargo moved, and who ultimately benefited?
Khunjerab is no longer merely a border checkpoint. It is a border economy in which Chinese regulatory preferences, Pakistani administrative control, CPEC 2.0 ambitions and Gilgit-Baltistan livelihoods intersect. The viral video is a symptom. The real test is whether the formal system, digitised, green-channel enabled and hub-oriented around Sost, can absorb genuine small traders while closing the loopholes that allow larger interests to operate in their name. Success would turn the pass into a two-way corridor that expands Pakistani, and particularly Gilgit-Baltistan, exports into the Chinese market. Failure would leave informal practices to fill the gaps, with recurring friction on both sides of the border.
