Fence installation dispute, Torkham border remains closed

Photo Caption;

Khyber Agency: Security force personnel of both countries seen during the closure of Torkham border on Tuesday.

Nasib Shah Shinwari

Khyber Agency: The Pak-Afghan border Torkham was closed when Afghan authorities criticized the Torkham authorities for installation of the fence on the Pakistani side of border to block movement of illegal and suspected people. Official Sources said on Tuesday.

The tension between the officials of two neighbor countries rose when the Afghan border security officer, Lieutenant Nisar Ahmad, around 9 am came to the site and asked the Pakistani border authorities to stop working on the installation of barbed wire and fencing. Reacting on this development on Torkham the commandant of Khyber Rifles (KR) force colonel Tariq Hafeez along with a big contingent of security personnel rushed to Torkham border and took positions and closed the Torkham border for all kinds of movement.

Later to bring the situation on Torkham border as normal the afghan border police chief Zabihullah Shinwari accompanied by Col-Nisar Ahmad called on the officials of  Pakistan and hold negotiations with the Assistant Political Agent Rahimullah Mehsud and colonel Tariq Hafeez. After the rounds of parley held to resolve the issue but the meeting between two country officials bear no fruit. Zabihullah Shinwari told the Pakistani officials that it was decided that no country would do any of the construction work in the Zero Point area which was the agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A tribal journalist Rahat Shinwari during the coverage of Torkham border closure

The closure of Torkham border caused miseries for both countries travelers and thousands of passengers including patients, women and children were stranded for the whole day on the both sides of the border while long queues of load and empty trucks carrying afghan transit goods and other private goods to and from Afghanistan were seen parked on the road sides across the border.

An official of the political administration said this scribe that the border was still closed till filling this report.

Torkham: An Afghan family is seen during the closure of Torkham border.