Authorities razed to ground 318 houses of Afghan citizens residing on the Torkham border in Pakistan for the last 40 years, officials said on Monday.
Torkham Tehsildar Shakeel Umarzai said that they had launched a cleanup operation against Afghans residing illegally on the border localities. He said they had served notices to the Afghan citizens to vacate the border area and shift their families back to Afghanistan. He said on the expiration of the last notice, they started demolishing houses near the Pak-Afghan border in Torkham.
Umarzai said that during a weeklong operation 318 houses occupied by Afghan nationals in Gyanrai and Bacha Mina areas were demolished. He said around 3,000 Afghan nationals residing in the houses including women and children were sent back to Afghanistan via Torkham border.
The official claimed to have cleared the border areas of illegal Afghan citizens and ordered the security personnel not to allow anybody to cross the border without valid travel documents.
One the other hand, traders and owners of Torkham Bus Terminal were not happy with the restrictions imposed on the travelers coming to Pakistan.
Haji Farzand Shinwari, the contractor of Torkham taxi terminal, said that at least 1,800 taxi and mini-coaches were providing transportation to Afghan passengers to travel to various cities in Pakistan every day. He said due to travel restrictions on the Torkham border crossing, the number of commuters dropped to only 500 or less a day.
“It is difficult for me to meet the monthly expenses of the taxi terminal as I have to pay salaries and other dues of the employees hired to run the terminal,” Farzand said, and added that he and his partners were now thinking of giving up the terminal business as it was running into losses after restrictions imposed on the Afghan nationals.
Quoting the owners of taxi stands on the Afghan side of the Torkham border, Farzand said that Afghan taxi and terminal owners were also facing a similar situation. He said the number of Afghan passengers travelling to Pakistan had also dropped.
Sources in Afghanistan say a meeting could be held in the coming days where the Afghan side, under pressure from Afghan traders and tribal elders, will take the issue up with Pakistan.
On the other hand, authorities in Torkham have put up pamphlets and banners asking Afghan nationals not to travel Pakistan without visa after April 30.
Meanwhile, several Afghan families repatriated back to Afghanistan and crossed the Torkham border on Monday. A khasadar said that most of the Afghan families came from Peshawar and other cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the hot summer ahead in Pakistan.
