Zero tolerance for border violations, warns Sartaj

PM’s adviser says Pakistan wants peaceful ties with all its neighbours

ISLAMABAD: Reiterating that Pakistan believes in peaceful ties with all its neighbours, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Tuesday warned that the country will not tolerate any violation on its frontiers.

“Pakistan is pursuing vision of peaceful relations with all its neighbours,” Aziz told reporters in Islamabad. “[But] violation of Pakistan's frontiers will not be tolerated and a befitting response will be given in case of any violation,” he said.

The adviser called for addressing all kind of reservations between Pakistan and Afghanistan through bilateral dialogue.

Aziz’s statement came the same day he met Afghanistan’s Ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal to discuss the aftermath of the Chaman incident.



Four days after the bloody clashes, there have been no signs that Pakistan and Afghanistan are anywhere near resolving the controversy regarding what exactly triggered the exchange of fire.

In an unusually hard-hitting statement posted on his Facebook account, Zakhilwal held Pakistan responsible for the clash.

“In the meeting, I challenged the notion that either the unfortunate Chaman clash between Afghan and Pakistani security forces was provoked by our side or that Pakistan had pushed to solve the dispute through talks but the Afghan side had not cooperated,” the Afghan envoy wrote.

He claimed Pakistani forces “crossed the Durand Line into Afghan villages in Spin Boldak area for carrying out a survey.”



“This was not only a violation of Afghan sovereignty and territorial integrity but also a clear provocation as we had informed Pak Security leadership prior to the incident that carrying out a survey in our villages would be challenged, but that we were ready to talk to resolve this,” he contended.

Pakistani authorities maintain Afghan border forces opened fire ‘without provocation’ on soldiers deployed to protect census teams carrying out the headcount in the Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman villages of Chaman.

Kabul claims the villages, which straddle the border, are part of Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak district but Islamabad rejects that assertion.

At least 12 Pakistanis, most of whom civilians, were killed in the cross-border firing by Afghan forces. Frontier Corps Balochistan Inspector General Maj Gen Nadeem Anjum on Sunday said Pakistani forces killed at least 50 Afghan soldiers and wounded over 100 more in retaliatory fire.



The Afghan envoy, however, has challenged the figure given by Maj Gen Anjum and insisted only two Afghan soldiers were killed.

The border clash and subsequent war of words mark a new low in Pakistan-Afghanistan ties, which were on track for normalisation following recent visits by the chief of general staff and Inter-Services Intelligence chief to Kabul.