QUETTA: As Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan at Chaman remains closed on the second consecutive day on Saturday, authorities issued shoot-at-sight orders for those found trying to cross over.
The Friendship Gate was closed on Friday as part of tightening security in the wake of the suicide attack on the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan town of Sindh in which nearly 90 people lost their lives and over 340 others suffered injuries.
As a result, traffic and transit trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan also remained suspended.
“Shooting order has been issued to the security forces for those…found trying to enter…Pakistan illegally from any area of the border,” security officials said. “The Friendship Gate at Pak-Afghan border [has been] sealed for [an] indefinite period,” a Frontier Corps spokesman said.
“There will be no traffic between Pakistan and Afghanistan for an indefinite period,” border officials said.
Due to closure of the border for every sort of traffic and travelling, hundreds of trucks and trollers loaded with edible items like fresh fruits and vegetable along with commercial goods are stranded on both sides of the border. Similarly, thousands of people from both sides also stranded due to the closure of the border gate.
Official sources said that after the recent bomb blasts in Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Sehwan more FC troops have been deployed along the border with Afghanistan.