Peshawar: Afghan border security forces opened fire on Ayub check post, located at the hill top near Torkham border. Resultantly, injuring a Pakistani soldier. The Afghan authorities closed the border with Pakistan at Torkham on Sunday. Because Pakistani authorities allowed an Afghan patient to enter the country, but asked the attendants to come with legal documents.
Afterward, Authorities immediately moved the injured soldier to the hospital, where he is in stable condition now. Pakistani forces responded with heavy gunfire. There was no information on any casualties on the Afghan side.
Firing between the security forces of Pakistan and Afghanistan lasted for half an hour, according to government officials and locals. A senior government official at the Torkham border said, “The Afghan border officials made it an issue, saying Pakistani authorities should allow the patients and their attendants without visas or legal travel documents to enter Pakistan for treatment in Peshawar or elsewhere.” He added that officials on the border tried to convince the Afghan authorities but they didn’t listen, and didn’t allow vehicles to enter Pakistan from Afghanistan or vice versa.
As a result, several Afghan people with their legal documents, along with hundreds of trucks loaded with goods, had no choice but to wait on border. The border remained closed until the time of the report. Sources claimed that backdoor channels were in process to defuse the strain between the two neighbouring countries and open the border.
According to officials, On the other hand, Pakistani authorities had made it mandatory for Afghans to have legal travel documents for bringing their patients to the country for treatment. As per authorities, A hospital has been set up on border. Doctors check patients in that hospital and refer the serious patients to Hospitals in Peshawar. Critical patients don’t need any visa or legal travel documents.
Authorities took these measures to strengthen security after Peshawar police lines suicide attack. There are widespread allegations that certain people in Afghanistan are made to pay for entering Pakistan even without legal documents. Residents of Torkham said they had been fearing the backlash of the tense situation on the border for the past few days. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid avoided commenting on the border situation.
