KHYBER AGENCY (Staff Report) – The Pak-Afghan border at Torkham reopened for all kinds of traffic on Saturday after successful negotiations between authorities of the two countries.
Traffic remained suspended for six days after the Afghan troops exchanged fire with their Pakistani counterparts over the construction of a gate inside Pakistani territory.
Trucks lining the border due to the blockade began inching towards their destination and traders rejoiced at the return of normalcy in the area.
The new gate which Pakistan set up on its side of the border has been named after Major Jawad Ali, who embraced martyrdom on June 14 in an exchange of cross border fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces. The exchange reportedly took place on account of Pakistan’s construction of a gate on its side of the border.
Officials in Pakistan maintained that the gate was being set up to prevent the flow of visitors from Afghanistan into Pakistan without complete documents.
“Only the people having legal travel documents have been allowed to cross the border”, they added.
