Tensions escalate at Torkham border

FC major wounded in Afghan firing succumbs to injuries; Nisar says Kabul playing in someone else’s hands

ISLAMABAD/ LANDIKOTAL: Sporadic skirmishes continued between Pakistani and Afghan security forces along the tense border in Khyber Agency on Tuesday as Pakistan’s security czar said that “Kabul appears to be playing in someone else’s hands”.

The fighting erupted along the Torkham border Sunday night and continued erratically over the next two days, apparently after Afghan forces resorted to ‘unprovoked firing’ to disrupt the construction of a gate at the main border crossing between the two neighbours.



The Pakistani military justified the construction of the gate, saying ‘terrorists’ were using the busy crossing point. “In order to check movement of terrorists through Torkham, Pakistan is constructing a gate on (our) own side of the border as a necessity to check unwanted and illegal movement,” the military said in a statement on Monday.



Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Dr Abdullah Abdullah said in a Twitter message on Monday that the two sides had agreed to cease fire. But firing resumed hours after his tweet, triggering a diplomatic spate between Kabul and Islamabad.

Two Pakistani border guards were wounded in a fresh bout of unprovoked shelling from the Afghan side of the Durand Line as a major injured in Monday night’s firing of Afghan forces died at a military hospital in Peshawar.

A little before Iftar on Tuesday, Pakistani and Afghan security forces traded heavy fire, which continued sporadically for some time, according to tribal sources. There was no official word on the renewed hostilities from either side.

At least two persons, including Major Ali Jawad Changezi of the Frontier Corps, have been killed and around 18 others, mostly civilians, have been wounded since Sunday. Muhammad Ayub Hussain Khil, border police chief in eastern Afghanistan, claimed that two Afghan policemen were also killed and nine others wounded in gunfights.



Meanwhile, Pakistan Army has sent reinforcements and heavy weaponry to the Torkham border Monday night, said Pakistani security officials, who wished not to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media.



Political Administration in Khyber Agency clamped a curfew in Torkham and Landikotal towns on Monday and closed the Pak-Afghan Highway for all kinds of traffic. However, the administration lifted the curfew in Landikotal Tuesday morning.

A curfew-like situation persists in Torkham where business and trade activities remained suspended for the third day in row. Torkham has virtually become a ghost town as most of the local tribesmen have abandoned their houses and shifted to Landikotal.

Hundreds of trucks and trailers loaded with fresh fruits and vegetables are stranded on both sides of the border due to the closure of the Pak-Afghan Highway. On the Pakistani side of the Durand Line, a long queue of vehicles can be seen from Peshawar to Torkham.

In Peshawar meanwhile, Major Ali Jawad Changezi succumbed to his injuries in the Combined Military Hospital Tuesday morning. Maj Changezi was wounded in firing by Afghan security forces late Monday night.  Maj Changezi belonged to Quetta. His father, Khadim Hussain Changezi, was a retired Brigadier, while his brother, Ali Qasam, is also a serving major in Pakistan Army.

Soldiers carry the coffin of Major Changezi at his funeral in Quetta. PHOTO: AFP

The funeral of Maj Changezi was offered at the Corps Headquarters Peshawar where military brass, including army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and Corps Commander Lt Gen Hidayat Ur Rahman, were in attendance. Maj Changezi will be laid to rest in his ancestral graveyard in Quetta.



In Islamabad, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Afghanistan would have to decide either it wanted to support Pakistan’s efforts for peace in the region or play someone else’s game in the region. He was referring to Pakistan’s arch enemy, India, which, Pakistani officials have repeatedly said, was using the Afghan soil to destabilize Pakistan.

“Pakistan’s sincere efforts for border management are being sabotaged from across the border,” Nisar said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Major Changezi and other Pakistani officials were martyred as a result of provocative firing from across the border, which is unacceptable,” he added. “It seems Afghanistan is playing in the hands of someone else.”

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the martyrdom of Maj Changezi would not go in vain. “It will be avenged, even as enemies seek to rob us of Zarb-e-Azb peace gains,” he wrote on microblogging site Twitter.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2016.