Targeted attack?: Two Pakistanis slain in Afghan province

Authorities are probing incident; unlicenced clinics of Pakistani medics closed in Takhar.

ISLAMABAD:

Gunmen shot dead a Pakistani driver and his cleaner in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, an Afghan security official said.

The shooting in the Batikot district of Nangarhar province came a day after Afghan troops thrashed nearly 30 Pakistani nationals near Kabul, prompting a strong protest from Islamabad.

The gunmen opened fire on a container truck, carrying supplies for Afghan security forces, on the Torkhan-Jalalabad Highway and escaped, district police chief Mirza Muhammad Nusrat told The Express Tribune by phone.

“Afghan security forces conducted a search operation after the incident but no arrest was made,” Nusrat added.

The bodies of the slain Pakistanis – identified as Shahpur and Arafat, residents of the Landi Kotal subdivision of Khyber Agency – were handed over to their relatives in Afghanistan.

Fellow Pakistani truckers had identified the men and informed their relatives who had contacted Afghan authorities for the repatriation of bodies.

“I and members of Afghan security agencies arrived at the scene shortly after the attack around 8:30am, and shifted the bodies to a nearby medical clinic,” Nusrat said. It was not immediately clear why the gunmen targeted the container truck from among a convoy of vehicles.



There was no immediate reaction from Pakistan’s foreign ministry.

The Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said it was shocked at the killings and said the authorities are investigating the incident.

Around 100,000 Pakistanis are currently working in Afghanistan, the embassy spokesperson, Shams Zardasht, told The Express Tribune. He said the Afghan Embassy and Consulates in Peshawar, Karachi and Quetta daily issue around 1,200 visas to Pakistani nationals and that around 2,000 Pakistanis daily cross into Afghanistan for work.

Separately, Afghan authorities in northeastern Takhar province have closed a number of health centres operated by Pakistan doctors, Afghan media reported on Sunday.

Provincial public health chief Dr Hafizullah Safi said the clinics were operating illegally. He added that the affected Pakistani doctors have been asked to submit the required documents within 10 days or else they would not be allowed to resume business.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2012.