Chaman crossing shut in bid to pressure Kabul govt to act
islamabad — Government authorities shut down a second key border crossing into Afghanistan, halting trade supplies to the neighbouring landlocked country and increasing tension between the two nations in the wake of a bloody suicide bombing at a beloved shrine in Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.
The border closure at Chaman in the southwest Balochistan province came after an attack on a shrine in Sindh on Thursday left 88 worshippers dead. The move was seen as an effort to pressure Kabul to act against militants who Pakistan says have sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
The attack at Lal Shahbaz Qalander shrine in Sehwan was claimed by the Daesh group.
Pakistan security forces have launched nationwide operations they say have left more than 100 “terrorists” dead.
Pakistan closed the border at Torkham hours after the bombing and the Chaman border was shut late on Friday, said a senior army official.
A second official confirmed the details, saying that trucks and shipping containers carrying trade supplies were parked miles away from the border crossings. Torkham connects Pakistan to Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province and Chaman is located near Spin Boldak in Kandahar.
The latest developments come amid media reports that Pakistani troops backed by artillery targeted camps belonging to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taleban, near the Afghan border, causing an unspecified number of militant casualties.
Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has claimed to have carried out a number of attacks, including the February 13 suicide assault in Lahore that killed seven police officer and six civilians. Pakistan says Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and the main Tehrik-e-Taleban Pakistan militant groups had been operating from Afghan areas near the Pakistani border and that Kabul in the past ignored Islamabad’s pleas to take action against them.
In Kabul, the Afghan government on Saturday summoned Pakistan’s ambassador in protest of recent shelling in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces. The foreign ministry summoned Ambassador Abrar Hussain in Kabul, where
It has been established that afghan refugees have been used in these terrorists incidents. I appeal to afghan refugees to identify those who facilitate terrorists and terrorist activities Nisar Ali Khan, Interior Minister
Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai sought an explanation from Hussain, but also gave his condolences regarding recent suicide attacks in Pakistan.
At least two people have been killed and two others wounded in the shelling from Pakistan, according to reports.
Karzai said the Afghan government wants Pakistan to take strict action against terrorists that are hiding in Pakistan.
He expressed concern over the closure of the Torkham and Chaman border crossings and asked that the gates be reopened.
Also on Saturday, the Afghan army chief of staff, Gen. Qadam Shah Shahim, told reporters that security forces have killed 1,955 Daesh group fighters over the past year including important military leaders and foreign fighters.
Shahim said he regretted that Pakistan attacked eastern Afghanistan with artillery fire and said “we have shared our concerns through diplomatic channels with Pakistani authorities. We are waiting for the response through the diplomatic channels; otherwise we are fully ready to defend our country”.
To a question about the list of 76 “terrorists” given by Islamabad to Kabul, Shahim said that they too gave such a list of terrorists to Pakistan in the past and hoped Pakistan will act against them because they were using Pakistani soil to launch attacks in his country.