PESHAWAR: After six days of closure, the administration on Saturday reopened Torkham border and also lifted curfew from Torkham bazaar.
All trade and transportation activities have resumed with the reopening of Pak-Afghan border after a week-long closure, said officials in the Khyber Agency administration. Vehicles and thousands of travelers had been stranded in long queues since last Sunday night when the border was closed following unprovoked fire by Afghan forces. An army major, Ali Jawad Changezi, lost his life and over 10 others sustained wounds during the border skirmishes.
Ningrahar governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said that the reopening of Torkham border would mitigate the problems of ordinary travelers, particularly patients visiting Peshawar for medical assistance. Assistant Political Agent Rahimullah Mehsud told Daily Times that Islamabad conveyed the message of reopening of Torkham border to the Afghan officials late Friday night. He said Afghan border security chief Colonel Nisar Khan thanked Pakistani officials for the measure, which has somehow eased the tension between the two countries. Mehsud quoted Colonel Nisar Khan as saying that thousands of people had been stranded on the Afghan side of the border as well. He said that Afghan officials also requested for restarting supplies of fresh fruit, flour and other commodities to Afghanistan as prices of these items had increased in the country due to the closure of border.
According to Mehsud, officials from Afghanistan and Pakistan hugged each other at the border crossing and prayed for the departed souls of the Afghan soldier and the Pakistan Army major killed in the exchange of fire some four days ago. The official, however, said that work on the construction of border crossing gate at Torkham would continue, adding that routine work had started in the Pakistan Customs, Federal Investigation Agency(FIA) and National Logistics Cell (NLC) offices.
“The Torkham border reopened around 6 this morning after around five days of closure,” Mohammad Ayub Hussain Khil, border police chief in eastern Afghanistan said. “Every day huge crowds of Afghans used to cross the border for medical purposes, but now they are only allowing people with visas and passports,” he said.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesman posted a message on Twitter saying, “Only passport holders allowed from Afghan side.” The new requirement will affect thousands of people who formerly crossed the busy border post without travel documents. Several Afghan citizens carrying valid travel documents crossed the border and traveled towards Peshawar in public transport on Saturday, while hundreds of loaded trucks stranded in Khyber Agency also started their journey to Afghanistan. Traders and daily wagers also thronged the man marketplace in the border town of Torkham when they came to know about the reopening of the border.