Pakistan starts fencing Pak-Afghan border

LAHORE: A security official said on Wednesday that Pakistan has started the process of fencing the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman to stop illegal entry into the country from the other side.

To discuss ways of preventing the illegal crossing of the border from the Afghan side, tribal elders from Chaman and surrounding villages sat together at a jirga and decided that the population located around the border would be evacuated for additional security at the border.

Balochistan Frontier Corps Sector Commander Brigadier Nadeem Sohail told a tribal jirga that the actual fencing will be started soon. Both countries will benefit from this move, he added.

“Villagers will be compensated as per their documents,” he said.

The decision to fence the border was taken by the government to prevent the militants from moving across the border and to facilitate legal movement.

Sector commander also said that for additional security, the trucks entering Pakistan will be checked through scanners which will be installed at the border.

He also said that the trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan will not be affected by this move. Unnecessary check posts on the highway leading to Chaman will be removed and the people living near the border will be issued special trade cards, he added.