08 October 2004	Friday	22 Shaban 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 7: Afghanistan has informed Pakistan it is suspending vehicular traffic from Pakistan from Friday, one day before the presidential elections due to security reasons, official sources told Dawn.

Official said that the Afghan commander at Torkham, border point between Pakistan and Afghanistan, conveyed to the Pakistani authorities on Thursday that Kabul had ordered suspension of vehicular traffic between the two countries from Friday to Sunday.

The official communication gave no reason for the suspension but official source thought this could have been done due to security concerns ahead of the Afghan presidential elections on Saturday.

NATO's military commanders in Afghanistan have warned of a surge in attacks by forces inimical to the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to disrupt the first-ever presidential elections in Afghanistan.

The Afghan communication, however, said that pedestrians from both sides would be allowed to enter Pakistan and Afghanistan from Oct 8 to 10. The official source in Peshawar said that the government had no plans to suspend in-bound traffic from Afghanistan. "The suspension of vehicular traffic is from their side not from us. We will continue to let traffic coming in from Afghanistan," the official said.

The official said that there were no plans to seal the border between the two countries on Oct 9. He said that security would be provided to election staff and polling stations in the tribal areas.

Over 740,000 Afghan refugees are expected to vote in the out-of-country election process in Pakistan. Elections in Pakistan are being organized by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an international inter-governmental body in Pakistan and Iran.