Trucks are moving again at Pakistan’s border with Iran. Trade resumed on Saturday morning at the Gabd-Rimdan crossing in Balochistan’s Gwadar district — known locally as Gate 250 — after a week-long suspension that stranded freight vehicles, disrupted supplies and deepened worries about LPG shortages heading into winter.
Border officials are clearing commercial consignments carrying a consignment note dated 16 October or earlier. The head of the Gwadar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mir Naveed Jan Kalmati, confirmed the reopening and welcomed it, saying it would bring immediate relief to traders and transporters stuck on both sides, and that restored supplies should ease the LPG shortage and pressure on food and energy prices across the country.
The closure had a violent end. The commerce ministry suspended trade at Gabd-Rimdan and Taftan on 17 October, withdrawing an earlier trade order without giving a reason — a move widely linked to security concerns. On Thursday, gunmen attacked the backlog of freight vehicles parked near the closed crossing, setting dozens of trucks ablaze and damaging others. Local administrators have since reviewed the security situation and deployed additional forces to protect trade convoys.
The reopening follows a visit to Iran earlier in the week by Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, for talks with the Iranian leadership on bilateral relations and regional issues. For households, the test now is practical: whether the restored crossing brings LPG prices down from the levels seen in this week’s inflation figures.
