LANDI KOTAL: Scores of Afghan families thronged Landi Kotal on Sunday in anticipation of reopening of the Torkham border after Pakistani authorities late on Friday evening allowed nearly 250 stranded Afghan nationals to cross the border.

Emboldened by the ‘hum­anitarian gesture’ the government of Pakistan showed by first allowing an Afghan wedding party to cross the border a few days ago and by opening gates at Torkham and Chaman borders for stranded Afghan nationals on Friday and Saturday, the Afghan families made a beeline for the border early on Sunday morning, only to be refused to proceed further beyond the Landi Kotal-Torkham by-pass road.

After waiting in vain for several hours in anticipation of Torkham border reopening, the frustrated Afghans held a protest demonstration outside the Landi Kotal press club.

They demanded of the government of Pakistan to allow them to go back to their country as they had entered Pakistan through valid travel documents.

They said they had exhausted all the money they had during the past 10 days and now they were unable to hire a room in a hotel or guest house.

The protesting Afghans, including women and children, argued that most of them had come to Pakistan for medical treatment. They said they had been advised either medication or complete rest, but the border closure had further compounded their illnesses and miseries.

They said local residents and shopkeepers in Landi Kotal were not willing to provide them any free shelter and now they were left with no other option but to go back to their homes.

Officials of the local political administration said that they had no information when the border would be reopened. They said they were short of resources to provide shelter to hundreds of stranded Afghans.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2017