Landi Kotal:
Torkham’s border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, located in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Khyber district (KP), remained closed on Tuesday, since the Afghan authorities delayed the reopening decision agreed during a Jirga set on Monday.
Syed Jawad Hussain Kazmi, head of the Pakistani delegation in Jirga’s conversations, said the Afghan jirga had requested time to seek the final approval of the Afghan authorities. However, despite the 20 hours of approval, a final decision had not been transmitted.
“We are still waiting for the Afghan Jirga to contact us, which has caused a delay in the reopening of Torkham’s border,” said Kazmi, who also serves as an advisor to the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Pakistan (FPCCI).
The border closed on February 21, after the Afghan forces tried to build a military control point near Torkham. The authorities of the Pakistani border body (FC) opposed construction because it was being built in the Pakistani territory.
The situation intensified on March 4 after the conversations between the two parties for the reopening of the crossroads failed and the Pakistani security forces and the Afghan Taliban combatants exchanged fire in which an Afghan border guard was killed and two other injuries suffered.
From the first day, Kazmi said, his effort was to end the tension and find a peaceful solution to the problem. Therefore, he added, contacted the leaders of the Afghan Chamber of Commerce on March 6 and invited Torakham on March 9 for negotiations.
“In the first successful session, the Jirga Joint agreed to a high immediate fire and a second session was scheduled for March 17. In the second round, Kazmi directed a delegation of 36 members for conversations with an Afghan delegation of 25 members.
“Yesterday, the jirga agreed that there will be a stop the fire until the 15th of Eidul Fit [mid-April]And both countries will not carry out the construction in the dispute areas, “Kazmi said, adding that the problem of controversial constructions would be addressed at the next meeting.
Kazmi said that the Afghan jirga had sought time to obtain the final opinion of the higher authorities in Jalalabad and Kabul. “They have not informed us about the final decision of the Afghan authorities,” Kazmi added.
The senior vice president of the Khyber Chamber of Commerce, Wajid Ali Shinwari, told The Express PAkGazette that the conversations focused on a high fire and was not built on dispute sites on the border, and added that the reopening of the border was linked to these two points.
“From the Pakistani side, we have agreed that a construction will not be carried out until the reopening [of the border] But they would take the matter to the governor of Nangarhar. The governor of Nangarhar is still undecided and took the matter to Kabul, and so far, the Afghan side has not shown any interest. “
Although the border was still closed, a high fire was still intact, while the construction had stopped. “The jirga can be called successful because the high fire is intact and the construction has also stopped. The Afghan side pressed that the border should be open, until 15 after EID, the next meeting,” said Shinwari.
However, the Pakistani jirga remained optimistic about receiving a positive message on the Afghan side soon. They said that emergency consultations were ongoing between the Afghan jirga and its authorities, while the Torkham Crossing remains closed for the 25th consecutive day.
Meanwhile, the border security officials on both sides were scheduled to meet at the 9 am on Wednesday (today) to discuss and make the final decision with respect to the reopening of the border.
With additional contribution from our correspondent of Peshawar Shahbullah Yousufzai)
