Afghanistan: People protest in Nangarhar over closure of Torkham border crossing

The demonstrating people said Pakistan was continuously closing the Torkham crossing under various pretexts during fruit and vegetable season.

They asked officials of Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve the problem diplomatically.

Wahidullah, a trader, told Tolo News: "When the season of fruits and vegetables arrives, you (Pakistan) close the path, make problems. You attack our checkpoints. Why?"

Farman Gul Shinwari, head of the free transport union in Nangarhar, said: "The problems which are among the governments, you should solve it by any means, we don’t have any problems with it. But please don’t make obstacles for the transports."

Faridon Khan Momand, a former member of the parliament, asked Pakistan to open the border crossing and ensure the trouble faced by people from both nations is solved.

Meanwhile, Mumtaz Zahra Baluch, spokesperson of Pakistan's foreign ministry, reacted to the statement of the Afghanistan Foreign Ministry regarding the closure of Torkham crossing, saying that the statement comes as a “surprise as the Interim Afghan authorities know fully well the reasons for the temporary closure of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at Torkham.”

Baluch said in a statement as quoted by Tolo News that Pakistan cannot accept the construction of any structures by “Interim Afghan Government inside its territory since these violate its sovereignty.”

“On the 6th of September, instead of a peaceful resolution, Afghan troops resorted to indiscriminate firing, targeting Pakistan military posts, damaging the infrastructure at the Torkham Border Terminal, and putting the lives of both Pakistani and Afghan civilians at risk, when they were stopped from erecting such unlawful structures,” the statement claimed.