Talks fail to solve Chaman border issue

QUETTA/ ISLAMABAD: A second round of talks between officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday failed to resolve the impasse on the key border crossing at Chaman which remained closed for a fifth consecutive day.



Authorities closed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Chaman on Friday after a large number of Afghans pelted stones at the Baba-e-Dosti (Friendship) Gate desecrated the Pakistani flag.

Pakistani and Afghan officials held a flag meeting at the border post but it ended without any announcement on reopening the gate.

An official in Chaman confirmed that the border remained closed on Tuesday, adding that instead security had been beefed up.



Meanwhile, Afghanistan on Tuesday formally condemned last week’s incident of a flag being burnt and protests in the Afghan border town of Spinboldak.

“Whoever burnt the flag was certainly representing neither the government nor the people of Afghanistan.” He hoped that the border gate would reopen on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2016.