Torkham border closed

PESHAWAR: Pakistan on Monday closed Torkham border crossing in Khyber Agency for the people entering from Afghanistan without valid documents.

The border was closed on orders of the government amidst growing insurgency-related incidents in the country, especially in Peshawar city. It was believed that mostly Afghan nationals, living illegally or entering Pakistan without passports and visas, were allegedly involved in the rising incidents of terrorism, which claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent people so far.

A huge number of people mostly Afghans with no valid immigration documents were seen waiting on the Afghanistan side of the border to enter Pakistan. This busy border crossing had also been closed for several times in the past but was reopened after talks between the Afghan and Pakistan governments.

The move would increase the problems of two million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan. Unlike the Pakistanis, majority of the Afghans frequently cross into Pakistan without valid documents to meet their near and dear ones.