LANDI KOTAL: Tension over a fencing dispute continued to grip the Torkham border crossing on Wednesday as it remained shut for the second day and Pakistan and Afghanistan deployed additional forces and armoured personnel carriers on both sides of the border.

Routine cross-border movement remained suspended except some dead bodies along with a few mourners being allowed passage to Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghan and Pakistani nationals, who remained stranded at the border on Tuesday, returned to their native places after losing hope of reopening of the border.

With the border closure, markets, offices of customs clearing agents and restaurants were closed and thin attendance was witnessed at the offices of customs and the local administration. The taxi stand at the border crossing also gave a deserted look.

Informed sources at the border told Dawn that there was no contact between the officials concerned of the two countries on border reopening.

Pakistani officials insisted that the border would remain closed till the Afghan government withdrew objection to the laying of barbed wire on Pakistan side of the border and gave an assurance about helping Pakistan in halting cross-border illegal movement of Afghan nationals.

“We were quite within our limits of our side of the border (while laying barbed wire),” an administration official said while referring to Afghan border guards raising objection to the act leading to closure of the border on Tuesday, again. This was reminiscent of a similar situation witnessed a couple of weeks ago.

“The purpose of fencing the border is to plug illegal and secret border crossing points,” he said.

The official dispelled the impression that there was any possibility of a clash between border guards of the two countries and said that additional forces had been deployed to control sudden rush of passengers when the border was reopened.

However, he said, it was now the Afghan government’s turn to fulfil its obligation by withdrawing objection to the fencing of the ‘secret’ routes along the border and ensuring implementation of the border management policy agreed between the two countries.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2016