TORKHUM (Staff Report) – Pakistan and Afghanistan have beefed up the number of troops deployed on both sides of border at Torkhum gate, following the death of Pakistan Army’s Major Jawad Ali Changezi, who was injured in a border clash on Monday night.
According to details available with Daily Pakistan Global, amid the tense situation on the international border, thousands of people are stranded on either side, due to closure of the border for the fourth consecutive day.
The porous Pak-Afghan border has long been a source of dispute between the two countries. Thousands of people cross international border at different locations every day.
Previously, people traveled across the border without any visa, however recently Pakistan has built a gate at the Torkhum crossing, forbidding the entry of Afghans without valid travel documents.
Pakistan’s repeated attempts to build a fence on sections of the roughly 2,200-km-long border have been met with hostility by Afghan forces and forces.
According to Pakistani officials, the recent spate of cross-border firing broke out on Sunday night at the Torkhum crossing, following the construction of a new border post on the Pakistani side.
As a result, nine Pakistani and six Afghan troops have so far been wounded in the fighting, while one Pakistan and another Afghan personnel have been killed.
Responding to the clash on the border, Kabul summoned Pakistan’s envoy on Tuesday and lodged its protest. In an apparent response, Islamabad summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires in Islamabad on Monday.
Recently, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Afghan agencies of patronizing Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan chief Mullah Fazlullah, who has been involved in a number subversive activities in Pakistan from while operating out of Afghan soil.
In an interview, he said terrorist incidents in Pakistan led back to Afghanistan. The militants hiding in Afghanistan cross the border along with Afghan refugees and execute acts of terrorism in Pakistan, he stated.
The Minister also said thousands of Afghan nationals travel to Pakistan without having valid documents, but this practice will not be allowed in future.
“Pakistan has built border gates at Torkhum and Angoor adda, so that nobody can enter the country without formal travel documents,” he said.
He said that recent spate of “unprovoked” firing by Afghan forces was not welcome and would be given a fitting reply.
Reacting to recent tensions among Pakistan and Afghanistan, the US State Department spokesman John Kirby has said that Washington is in touch with both Islamabad and Kabul.
United States does not support any act of violence and wants the two states to resolve the conflict through talks, he said while answering a question at a daily briefing.
