Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday strongly condemned the firing by Afghan Border Forces on the civilian population in Balochistan’s Chaman district a day earlier and called on the interim government in Kabul to ensure that such incidents were not repeated in the future.
At least seven people lost their lives and 16 others suffered injuries on Sunday in Chaman when it came under “unprovoked and indiscriminate” heavy gunfire and artillery shelling by Afghan border forces, according to the military’s media affairs wing.
The incident has been widely condemned across the political divide in Pakistan, with PM Shehbaz’s among the latest denunciations.
In a tweet on Monday, PM Shehbaz said the “unprovoked shelling and fire by Afghan Border Forces at Chaman, resulting in [the] martyrdom of several Pakistani citizens and injuring more than a dozen, is unfortunate and deserves the strongest condemnation”.
“The Afghan Interim government should ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” he added.
Former ambassador to Afghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan also issued a condemnation and stressed the need for measures to prevent such incidents, highlighting that an increase was observed in their occurrence in recent days.
“Condemn yesterday’s Chaman incident killing six Pakistanis and injuring many others from firing/shelling from [the] Afghan side. Unfortunately, such incidents have been continuing/increasing recently,” he tweeted, calling for “direct talks with [the] Afghan government/institutions to prevent [the] recurrence of such incidents, which is in mutual interest”.
“Continuation of such cross-border incidents not only affects relations but [also] impedes [the] enhancing of cooperation in political, trade, transit, economic exchanges and particularly [the] movement of people”, he added.
The condemnations by the premier and the ambassador follow the Foreign Office’s (FO) denunciation of the incident, wherein it demanded the “strictest possible action” by Afghan authorities against those responsible.
In a statement issued on Sunday night, the FO said “such unfortunate incidents are not in keeping with the brotherly ties” between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“The Afghan authorities have been informed that recurrence of such incidents must be avoided and strictest possible action must be taken against those responsible,” it said in a statement, adding that both countries remained in contact to ensure there was no escalation of the situation.
Earlier, the Pakistan military’s media affairs wing described the incident as “uncalled-for aggression” and said Pakistani troops had given a “befitting” but “measured response” and avoided targeting civilians on the other side.
Pakistani authorities had approached their counterparts in Kabul to highlight the “severity” of the situation, demanding strict action to prevent a repeat of such incidents, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement issued on Sunday evening.
