RAWALPINDI: Pak-Afghan border at Chaman, Bab-e-Dosti, was reopened on Saturday after being closed for more than 20 days.
It has been reopened on humanitarian grounds for the month of Ramazan on the request of Afghan authorities, according to a statement issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
It is now open for all sorts of traffic.
The gate was closed on May 5, following Afghan-Pakistan border clashes. As many as 11 people were killed and 46 injured in the firing.
“After the Chaman incident, Pakistan has its area under effective control having pushed back Afghan Border police troops,” reads the Army’s media cell statement.
Census process is now complete at the Pakistani side of the divided villages. Pakistani troops will maintain their positions along international border in Killi Luqman and Killi Jahangir on Pakistani side of the border.
Tensions between both the countries have resulted in the temporary closure of the gate in the past as well.
On February 16, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was closed after a bomb ripped through a shrine in interior Sindh leaving at least 80 people dead.
The border was reopened after 18 days only for travellers on foot, and not for vehicles from 8am till 5pm.
After the attack on the shrine in Sehwan, Sindh in February this year the border gate was closed. However, it was reopened and the move was welcomed by traders especially as the closure had caused losses to their businesses.
