Attack on Chaman villages
Kabul and its border forces have stepped out of line again
It was distinctly unneighbourly of Afghan border and security forces to rain down mortar shells at paramilitary Frontier Corps soldiers who were accompanying members of the census team trudging along the Killi Luqman and Killi Jahangir villages of Chaman on Friday.
Before the dust settled an FC soldier and nine civilians, including two women and four children, were counted among the dead and 47 others injured on the Pakistani side, while two Afghan border guards were injured in retaliatory action. And capping off this skirmish was the sudden but expected closure of the Chaman border crossing by the Pakistani authorities. This has been the familiar sequence of unfortunate events involving the two countries for some time now.
Kabul and its border forces have stepped out of line again — while staking a claim to the two Chaman villages they targeted. Of course, Islamabad is hardly amused by Kabul’s antics and its claim of a larger Spin Boldak district at the expense of Chaman. Their latest act of aggression against the FC and killing of civilians will only serve to harden hearts and turn the tide of public opinion against them. Houses have been flattened and residents have been forced to leave their dwellings. Wars, it must be remembered, have been ignited on flimsier grounds than that.
Pakistani authorities insist they had informed the Afghan authorities in advance about the census through diplomatic and military channels. It is hard to fathom why the Afghans reacted the way they did.
Their border forces are clearly playing with fire and don’t seem to care about the consequences for now. But sooner or later they must wake up to the reality of a strong backlash. That is bound to happen when Pakistan’s patience with Afghanistan runs out eventually, goaded by the suffering of its people and its own domestic compulsions of seeing through the process of the critical population count.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2017.
Before the dust settled an FC soldier and nine civilians, including two women and four children, were counted among the dead and 47 others injured on the Pakistani side, while two Afghan border guards were injured in retaliatory action. And capping off this skirmish was the sudden but expected closure of the Chaman border crossing by the Pakistani authorities. This has been the familiar sequence of unfortunate events involving the two countries for some time now.
Kabul and its border forces have stepped out of line again — while staking a claim to the two Chaman villages they targeted. Of course, Islamabad is hardly amused by Kabul’s antics and its claim of a larger Spin Boldak district at the expense of Chaman. Their latest act of aggression against the FC and killing of civilians will only serve to harden hearts and turn the tide of public opinion against them. Houses have been flattened and residents have been forced to leave their dwellings. Wars, it must be remembered, have been ignited on flimsier grounds than that.
Pakistani authorities insist they had informed the Afghan authorities in advance about the census through diplomatic and military channels. It is hard to fathom why the Afghans reacted the way they did.
Their border forces are clearly playing with fire and don’t seem to care about the consequences for now. But sooner or later they must wake up to the reality of a strong backlash. That is bound to happen when Pakistan’s patience with Afghanistan runs out eventually, goaded by the suffering of its people and its own domestic compulsions of seeing through the process of the critical population count.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 7th, 2017.