LANDI KOTAL: Over 100 Pakistanis holding only computerised national identity cards (CNICs) availed of a rare opportunity to cross over to Pakistan from Afghanistan on Tuesday as authorities had relaxed the rule of passport for a day at the Torkham border.

Sources said that the authorities had received requests from the relatives of a number of Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan following imposition of passport condition for the cross-border movement on April 15.

They said that around 120 Pakistanis had gone to Afghanistan prior to the imposition of new restrictions and got stranded as they had either not carried their passports or had not yet acquired the travel document.

They said that the authorities accepted the requests of the affected Pakistanis and announced a one day relaxation for them to cross the Torkham border by showing their CNICs. The identity card was an acceptable travel document prior to April 15 when the condition of holding passport was made mandatory.

Immigration officials at Torkham said that 120 Pakistani nationals were given special permission on Tuesday to return from Afghanistan as they were without passports and stranded in different cities of Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2017