LANDI KOTAL: The federal government has decided in principal to fence selected parts of the country\u2019s border with Afghanistan to stop suspected Afghan people from entering Pakistani territory, said a security official.
\nThe official told Media that the border fencing would begin in \u2018a couple of months\u2019 in line with a recent decision made in a high-level meeting.
\nIn April last year, too, a bid to fence some portions of the border was made. It however caused a dalmatic row drawing Afghanistan\u2019s strong reaction and leading to the closure of Torkham border for five days.
\nIn the past, such bids had attracted scathing criticism of the country\u2019s \u2018nationalist\u2019 political parties.
\nThe security official however insisted the border fencing was part of the newly-implemented border management plan, which had yielded \u2018positive and effective\u2019 results.
\n\u201cNot a single suspected militant or suicide bomber has crossed Torkham border into Pakistan since June last year when the border management policy was executed,\u201d he said.
\nThe official said the complete data of the visitors to Pakistan via Torkham border was maintained under the new policy and that the data was later crosschecked if and when a terrorist incident took place in the country.
\nHe claimed no trace of any saboteur\u2019s entry to the country from Afghanistan had been found since June last year declaring the new border management mechanism a success.
\n\u2018We understand that the closure of border was not an ideal decision as both the neighbouring countries have mutual interests and heavily depend on each other in the field of trade and necessary items of daily use,\u201d he said.
\nThe official said though militancy couldn\u2019t be completely eliminated with such measures, they would help drastically minimise terrorist incidents in the country.
\nHe hinted at the repeal of the rahdari pass for the people living on both sides of the border saying the facility was misused by some \u2018unscrupulous elements\u2019.
\nThe border authorities said recently that over 4,000 rahdari passes were issued to Shinwari tribesmen of both Pakistani and Afghan origins.
\n\u201cWe will be very strict once the border is reopened. The idea of a \u2018soft border\u2019 will also be abandoned as no more relaxation will be granted to daily wagers and schoolchildren of Afghan origin as such facilities too were misused in the recent past,\u201d he said.
\nThe official said the contrabands including explosives and foreign currencies were recovered from handcarts operated by young daily wagers and empty vehicles at Torkham border.
\nMeanwhile, with the border\u2019s closure entering 11th consecutive day on Monday, business activities remained completely suspended with some Afghan families still lodging in different localities of LandiKotal in the hope of the border\u2019s reopening.
\nThe border security officials allowed around 250 Afghans to return late on Friday but they later issued a \u2018clear-cut\u2019 notification regarding the complete closure of the border and directed Afghan nationals not to approach the border until its reopening is formally announced.
\nThe notification however said the permission would be granted to the seriously-ill Afghans along with one of his or her attendant to go back to Afghanistan purely on humanitarian grounds.
\nThe security officials insisted that an early reopening of the border was the desire of both the countries as bilateral trade was affected due to border security concerns.
\nThey said the cross-border movement should not be made hostage to terrorist incidents but unfortunately it wasn\u2019t possible to continue with the \u2018routine border affairs\u2019 after the terrorist attacks in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LANDI KOTAL: The federal government has decided in principal to fence selected parts of the country\u2019s border with Afghanistan to stop suspected Afghan people from entering Pakistani territory, said a security official. The official told Media that the border fencing would begin in \u2018a couple of months\u2019 in line with a recent decision made in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-13441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-peshawar"},"yoast_head":"\n