January 25, 2002	Friday	Ziqa’ad 10, 1422

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TORKHAM, Jan 24: Pakistan immigration staff at Torkham checkpost have refused entry to Afghans despite having legal documents.

An official of the Afghan border security forces at the Torkham town told Dawn on Thursday that during the last two days the immigration officials had kept over 10 Afghans from entering Pakistan without any reason.

“They were deliberately refused, though Pakistan embassy in Kabul granted them visas,” said the official. Pakistan has recently reopened its embassy in Kabul after the fall of the Taliban.

Local immigration officials said they had been directed not to allow any person from the other side of the border. Only foreign journalists and the Afghans carrying special permission letters of the governor Nangarhar province were allowed to cross into Pakistan, they added.

FLAG: Afghanistan’s border security guards did not allow the supporters of the former Afghan monarch Zahir Shah to replace the existing flag of the  war-torn country— introduced by the Northern  Alliance - with the one the country used to have in Zahir Shah’s tenure.

A commander of the Northern Alliance said, some supporters of the former king living in Peshawar had tried to remove the alliance’s tricolour— green black and white— flag from the checkpost. They wanted to perch another flag —having black, green and red colours— which was used in King’s era. He maintained that only the interim set up had the authority to take final decision about the flag.