LANDI KOTAL: Pakis­tani authorities on Tuesday allowed a seven-member wedding party to cross into Afghanistan after they were stranded in Landi Kotal since the closure of the Torkham border on Feb 17.

Officials at the border said that the wedding party including bride Bas Noora, her father-in-law Tawas Khan, her mother-in-law, a child and three brothers-in-law were given special permission to go to their hometown in Jalalabad, Afghanis­tan, after media reports that the Afghan family had been staying at a friend's house in Landi Kotal since the closure of the border.

Tawas Khan told reporters that the wedding ceremony had been held a day earlier to the border closure in Swabi district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the family of the bride lived.

Members of the bridegroom’s family, who were in Afghanistan, were awaiting the wedding party to reach Jalalabad last Friday when they received the news about the border closure.

After receiving information about the stranded Afghan wedding party, Commandant Khyber Rifles Col Umar Farooq gave orders to allow it to cross the border.

Also on Tuesday, border authorities deported 59 Afghan nationals who were caught while trying to enter Pakistan without legal travel documents through unfrequented routes over the past four days.

Officials said that checking at the Torkham border would further be tightened and Pakistani nationals would also not be allowed to travel to Afghanistan and return to Pakistan without valid travel documents.

They said travelling on the temporary Rahdari Card would either be restricted or stopped altogether to discourage its misuse by unauthorised people.

The officials said as many as 3,400 Afghans had been caught while trying to cross the border through unfrequented routes over the past eight months.

Meanwhile, the political administration on Tuesday completed enlistment of at least 180 Loe Shalman families who had vacated their homes from bordering areas after Pakistan Army targeted militant positions across the border with heavy artillery.

The displaced families had taken shelter in the homes of their relatives and friends living in other localities of Loe and Kam Shalman.

Officials said that the administration would provide the displaced people all possible assistance.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2017