PESHAWAR: A Pakistani security official was shot and wounded when Afghan Taliban opened fire on his post on the Torkham border as Afghan authorities closed their border with Pakistan for a second straight day on Monday, according to senior government and security officials.
Afghan border officials abruptly closed the border with Pakistan in Torkham on Sunday after Pakistani officials allowed a patient from Afghanistan to enter, but asked companions to bring legal travel documents.
“Afghan border officials have made it a problem,” said a senior government official at the Torkham border, adding that Pakistani officials were allowing patients and their companions to enter Pakistan for treatment in Peshawar or elsewhere without visas or legal travel documents. Allow it to happen.”
Requesting anonymity, he said officials at the border tried to convince Afghan officials but they did not listen, adding that they had smuggled the vehicles into Pakistan from Afghanistan. Not allowed to happen or vice versa.
After the border was closed, hundreds of trucks loaded with various goods and Afghans with legal documents are stuck on both sides of the border. According to Pakistani officials, Afghan border security forces fired at the Ayub post located on the hilltops, injuring one soldier.
The soldier was rushed to hospital where his condition is said to be stable. Pakistani security forces retaliated by firing heavily at the suspected locations from where the attackers came from, but there is no information on whether any Afghan security forces were killed in the attack.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid declined to comment on the border situation. According to government officials and Torkham border residents, the exchange of fire between the security forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan continued for half an hour.
The border remained closed till the filing of this report, though senior officials told JEE News that backdoor channels are in place to ease tensions between the two neighboring countries and open the border.
“Some senior officials of both countries are using backdoor channels to resolve the issue. It is hoped that the border will be reopened by Tuesday,” a government official said. According to official sources, Pakistani officials have told the Afghans. made it mandatory to have legal travel documents to take their patients to Pakistan for treatment.
He said that a hospital has been built on the border where patients are properly assessed by doctors and if they need treatment, they are referred to hospitals in Peshawar for better health care. Critical patients do not require a visa or legal travel documents.
The decision to tighten security measures was taken after the Peshawar Police Lines suicide attack. However, there are widespread allegations that some people in Afghanistan are paid to enter Pakistan without legal documents. Residents of Torkham said they were afraid of the reaction to the tense situation on the border in the past few days.
