Pak troops at Afghan border

● PARAMILITARY TROOPS, including the Frontier Constabulary, Levies, Rangers are deployed at the borders to deal with regular issues, including illegal border crossing, smuggling etc.

Islamabad, July 24: Pakistan has deployed regular troops at forward positions along the Afghan border due to the fluid security situation in the neighbouring wartorn country in the wake of the withdrawal of American and Nato troops, a media report said on Saturday.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that Pakistan Army soldiers have replaced the Frontier Constabulary (FC), Levies Force and other militias from the frontline positions, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The US and Nato are on the verge of completing their final troops withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Ahmed said the FC Balochistan and other militias working under the interior ministry had been called back from border patrolling.

Now regular army troops are manning the border after replacing the paramilitary forces, the minister said, adding the decision had been made in wake of the volatile situation across the border.

Ahmed said the situation not only demanded containment of the influx of refugees from Afghanistan but also the entry of armed army personnel and militants into Pakistan.

Paramilitary troops, including the Frontier Constabulary, Levies, Rangers are deployed at the borders to deal with regular issues including illegal border crossing, smuggling etc, the minister was quoted as saying in the report.

However, the current volatile situation (in Afghanistan) demands that regular military troops be deployed along the border, he said.

Military spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar recently told a TV channel that troops were manning the border and the move would help prevent escalation of conflict from the Afghan soil or airspace to the Pakistani side.

Meanwhile, sources in the armed forces told the newspaper that the most serious challenge in the current scenario was not just the inflow of refugees or any infiltrators in the garb of refugees.