Daily Times

Days after cross border firing at the Chaman border left nearly 10 people dead over a dozen injured, a jigra comprising senior Pakistani religious clerics and tribal ‘Maliks’ (tribal elders) left for Afghanistan on Monday afternoon in a bid to calm down tensions at the key border crossing.

The 16-member jirga is expected to hold negotiations with Afghan officials and attempt to convince them against a repeat of what happened last week.

The jirga members crossed over into Afghanistan at the Chaman border on Monday afternoon.

Before crossing over, Tribal Maliks Haji Attaullah Khan and Malik Abdul Khaliq Achakzai said that they would try to convince the Afghan officials to refrain from such repeat of such episodes in the future. “We are taking a message of peace,” said Haji Attaullah Khan, adding that in the future as well, if there is a dispute, it needs to be resolved amicably through dialogue.

Achakzai said that they hope to explain to the Afghans that they are brothers who have been living in this area for a very long time and that they want to live together as friends, not enemies.

Afghan forces opened unprovoked and indiscriminate fire of heavy weapons on to the civilian population in Kali Musa near the border on Tuesday. Following the mortar shells fired into Pakistan by Afghan forces, Chaman border between both countries reopened on Friday for trade and foot traffic.

Pakistan had later summoned the Afghan Chargé d’Affaires in Islamabad to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to record protest over Chaman border aggression.

A press release said Pakistan’s strong condemnation over recent incidents of unprovoked cross-border shelling by Afghan Border Security Forces in the Chaman-Spin Boldak area, resulting in loss of life, injuries, and damage to property, was conveyed. It was reiterated that protection of civilians remained the responsibility of both sides and that recurrence of these incidents must be prevented. It was agreed to use established institutional mechanisms in this regard.