LANDI KOTAL: Personnel of the army’s engineering corps resumed laying barbed wire at selected locations along the Pak-Afghan border on Saturday after the Torkham border crossing was reopened on Friday evening, sources said.

The sources said that Inspector General of the Frontier Corps, Maj Gen Mazhar Shaheen, visited the border crossing and observed the situation there.

On the occasion, they said, Maj Gen Shaheen instructed the border guards to show courtesy to the people crossing over into Pakistan or Afghanistan but keep a strict vigil on the movement of suspect people.

He gave cash prizes to the border guards who worked overtime during the four days the Torkham border crossing remained closed.

A great rush of people was seen at the crossing in the morning as thousands of Afghan nationals flocked to it after remaining stranded on the other side due to the four-day closure.

Officials and clearing agents told Dawn that over 300 vehicles carrying export items, edibles and other goods were cleared at the Customs terminal for their journey into Afghanistan.

A similar number of vehicles loaded with coal and marble, etc, crossed over into Pakistan, they said.

The officials said the recently-installed human scanning machine remained busy throughout the day due to the large number of Afghans seeking to cross over into Pakistan.

Restaurants, markets and offices of clearing agents in the area also reopened on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2016