High level Afghan delegation arrives in Islamabad to discuss border situation

An Afghan delegation comprising of eight members arrived in Islamabad on Monday to discuss the escalated border situation at Torkham. The delegation, headed by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai, arrived in Islamabad on Monday to hold talks with representatives from Pakistan.

The Afghan delegation was invited by prime minister’s foreign policy adviser Sartaj Aziz, in order to discuss a nearly week-long standoff at Torkham border. Things at the border started turning bad on June 12, when Afghan forces started unprovoked firing to show their resentment over the construction of a gate by Pakistan to check the inflow and outflow of traffic across borders.

The Torkham border remained closed for six days and reopened on Saturday morning after both the countries called truce for the time being. Despite agreeing to cease fire, both the countries have placed tanks at the border to handle any type of uncalled for situation.

“Pakistan welcomes the visit and looks forward to meaningful deliberations through a constructive engagement between the two sides with a view to promoting bilateral relations as well as peace and stability of our two countries and the region,” a Foreign Ministry statement said on Friday.

Some sort of agreement is likely to be reached by this visit. However, Pakistan remains staunch in its intent to build a gate at the border as part of introducing a new border mechanism from June 1. Under the new border control arrangements, Pakistan has made it clear that no one without proper passport and visa will be allowed to enter Pakistan.

Every day, hundreds of people cross the border between both the countries without any check. With the new border controls, it is being hoped that infiltration of terrorists from Afghanistan will be curtailed.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=53361

Posted by fatimaarshad on Jun 20 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.