QUETTA: Pakistan has dug a 235 km lengthy trench at the porous Afghan border to counter flow of narcotics and smugglers into Balochistan province.
Frontier Corps was entrusted the task to excavate the trench in order to stop illegal movement at the border that separates Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan.
“Work is going in full-swing on digging the trench,” Colonel Faheem of the FC told the reporters visiting the border. The two neighbors share a 2,200 km porous border.
Colonel Faheem said excavation of the trench was part of the government’s efforts to tighten security around the border and ensure legal movement. Hundreds of labourers and vehicles are also involved in this process.
“We want to stop the infiltration of terrorists,” he added.
The trench was dug in the Loai Band area of Killa Saifullah district and was being excavated by paramilitary troops in districts located in northern Balochistan.
“Our aim is to strictly man the border and stop the flow of narcotics and drugs,” the military officer stated. The Trench would be dug out by Pakistan 480 kms along the border with Afghanistan, he added.
Balochistan Frontier Corps Chief, Major General Ejaz Shahid was personally supervising the excavation of trench and ordered the troops to stop the infiltration of terrorists.
During Pervez Musharraf's regime, Pakistan had installed a bio-metric system at the Pak-Afghan border which the Afghan side had objected to.
The system has been intact at the border for almost eight years, but it is yet to be made functional.
A blame game between Afghanistan and Pakistan with regard to infiltration of terrorists has continued for several years now, often straining relations between the two countries.
