KHYBER
Approximately fifty arrested Afghan children, illegally crossed into Pakistan were deported to Afghanistan on Sunday night, Station House Officer (SHO) said.
SHO, Landi Kotal police station Adnan Afridi flanked by jirga members including tehsil chairman Shah Khalid, President Torkham Clearing Agents Association Mujib Shinwari,former head of Khyber Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jabir Shinwari and tribal elders addressing to a press conference in the police station on Sunday night in the presence of the detained children that the Afghan almost seven hundred Afghan children (boys and girls) cut the fence and again and again illegally crossed the border into Pakistan.
Most of them were involved in narcotics smuggling and other anti-social activities he added and said they were warned repeatedly and the Afghan border officials were asked to stop illegal penetration but to in avail.
He maintained that a number of Afghan children had lost their lives in traffic mishaps while crossing the border, hiding under the Afghanistan returned trucks and trailers.
They could be dealt with under the 14 foreign Acts however with interference of the Jirga as a good gesture they were deported to Afghanistan via Torkham border, SHO said.
Tehsil Chairman Haji Shah Khalid said that it was immoral and unlawful to involve the children in smuggling at the border.
He urged their parents to enroll their children in schools instead of utilizing them as a source of income.
The jirga members thanked the police and the Frontier Corp(North)for honoring them to release the detainees fifty children who were later on deported and handed over to Afghan border authorities.
It is to be stated here that the jirga resolved the border tension, erupted in Pak-Afghan forces over construction of a post that caused suspension of the border for twenty five days.
