October 17, 2003	Friday	Sha'aban 20, 1424

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QUETTA, Oct 16: Balochistan Frontier Corps Inspector-General Maj-Gen Syed Sadaqat Ali Shah said on Thursday that the area along the Afghan border near Chaman had been cleared of encroachment.

He told newsmen at the FC headquarters that the FC had taken all possible steps to stop illegal entry into the country.

“We have removed all encroachments near the Friendship Gate to keep a vigilant eye on the entry of unwanted people from across the border,” he said. He said the encroachments were a big hurdle in monitoring of the border.

He said the Frontier Corps had arrested over 9,000 illegal immigrants, who had crossed into the country from Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, and handed them over to the authorities for investigation.

However, he said he did not know the number of Al Qaeda and Taliban people among those arrested.

He said an embankment had been constructed along the border to stop illegal entry and a large number of searchlights installed for keeping an eye on the area during the night.

“We are not allowing any person to cross the border without legal travelling documents,” he said.

He denied the allegations that people were crossing the border to attack Afghan and United States troops in Afghanistan.

He said the force had seized around 35 tons of drugs during the last year.

He said the FC had recently tried to intercept four vehicles that had crossed into the country from Afghanistan in the Noshki area but the people of the area made it a big issue.

He said only five FC posts were established in the province for anti-smuggling checking.

“We are allowing people to bring goods from across the border at a limited level as they have no other means of earning livelihood,” he said.

He said he would take steps for changing the behaviour of the force and in this regard officers would be posted at all checkpoints.

He said the FC was taking steps for providing better education and health facilities to the people of the far-lung areas and it had opened 10 English and two Urdu medium schools in the province, where over 3,000 students were getting education. He said the FC was planning to open more schools in the province.