Chaos as Afghans in Pakistan flock to reopened border

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Thousands of desperate Afghans stranded in Pakistan thronged to border posts on Wednesday, not knowing when they would get another chance to cross.

They were stuck in Pakistan when Islamabad ordered the closure of the border with Afghanistan on Feb. 17 after a series of terror attacks blamed on militants based in Afghanistan.

On Monday, the government announced the Torkham and Chaman crossings would be open on Tuesday and Wednesday, sparking a rush at the border gates.

There was no word on when the crossings might be reopened permanently, despite repeated requests by the Afghan government.

At the crossings, large groups of Afghans gathered with their belongings, having been stranded in Pakistan for more than two weeks.

Pakistan’s Express TV reported officials saying that more than 23,000 Afghans crossed during the two days.

Those crossing were stranded when Pakistan unilaterally decided to close the frontier. Greater numbers of Afghans were caught out by the decision as many have family members in refugee camps in Pakistan, which hosts around 2.5 million Afghan refugees.

Traditionally, the Pashtun communities that live either side of the 2,640-kilometer (1,640-mile) border have felt little compunction to abide by the usual rules of crossing from one country to the other.

- Frustrated crowds

Afghanistan does not recognize the frontier, known as the Durand Line after the British colonial officer who devised it in the late 19th century, on the grounds that it was created to divide Pashtuns, who make up the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.

There are 18 border-crossing points between Afghanistan and Pakistan but Torkham, in the northwest between Peshawar and Jalalabad, and Chaman, linking Balochistan to Afghanistan’s Kandahar to the south, are the busiest.

TV images showed frustrated crowds jostling to reach immigration officials so their documents could be checked.

“I have been standing in the queue for last four hours,” Noor Zia, a resident of Afghanistan’s northeastern Nangarhar province, told Anadolu Agency at Torkham.

“There is nothing in order here. I just want to leave. I don’t want anything else.”

Zia travelled with his son to Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, in January for medical treatment but the pair found themselves stuck in Pakistan.

“Our visas expired on Feb. 20,” he said. “Only Allah and I know what I had to do to get my visa extended.”

Border officials seemed unprepared for the large numbers, slowing the repatriation process and adding to frustrations.

- Visa requirement

A new requirement in January that all Afghans should have visas to visit Pakistan also added to the border chaos. Previously visitors to Pakistan’s tribal areas, where most Afghans headed, only needed a local pass.

In response, Kabul also demanded that Pakistanis should have visas to cross the frontier.

Hundreds of Afghans without passports or other documents were refused readmission and Dawn newspaper reported that an elderly Afghan woman died in a stampede at Torkham on Tuesday.

Gul Zaman, an elderly Afghan from Paktika province, was concerned about his son, who did not have a passport or visa.

“I had come to see my elder son, who has been living here for the last 15 years,” he told Anadolu Agency. “He, along with his family, want to leave Pakistan permanently due to the government’s anti-refugee policy but he was returned by security officials yesterday.

“I really don’t know when will I see him and my grandchildren again.”

He added: “I beg the two governments, for God’s sake don’t grind the common people because of your politics. I am not the only person affected. There are tens of thousands of Afghans and Pakistanis who have relatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan respectively.

“Why are you dividing us for the sake of your politics.”

* Mohammad Afzal contributed to this report from Quetta.