Pakistan indefinitely shuts down border with Afghanistan amid tension

Pakistan has indefinitely shut down two border crossings with Afghanistan, after opening them briefly over the past two days.

According to Press TV, Pakistani official Niaz Mohammad, based in the northwestern border town of Torkham, said on Thursday that the border was closed again at 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday.

“There is no clarity on when the border will be reopened," media outlets quoted the official as saying.

He said that 24,000 Afghans had returned to Afghanistan on foot, while 700 Pakistanis returned home this week before the border was closed on Wednesday.

Pakistani authorities temporarily reopened the crossings on Tuesday and Wednesday to allow the return home of stranded citizens of both countries holding valid visas and travel documents.

Attahullah Khogyani, the government spokesman for Afghanistan's border province of Nangarhar, said that two men, a woman and a child, were trampled to death in the resulting surge of over 20,000 Afghans passing through the crossings.

The border crossings were abruptly ordered closed last month after a series of attacks Pakistan blames on militants sheltered in Afghanistan.

The closure chokes off a key trading route for landlocked Afghanistan. It also cuts off Pakistani traders from a steady market.

On Thursday, some 200 traders and transporters held a protest at Torkham crossing, complaining that cargo on hundreds of stranded trucks, particularly fruit and meat, was rotting. 

"People have suffered billions of rupees of losses in the past three or four weeks," said one protester, adding, "Their loaded vehicles have been standing by the road and there is no indication when the border will be opened."

SS