2 mortar shells fired from Afghanistan territory: FO

Published January 29, 2020
No casualties have been reported. — Photo provided by Naveed Siddiqui
No casualties have been reported. — Photo provided by Naveed Siddiqui

Two mortar shells were fired into Pakistan from the Afghanistan territory, said Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui on Wednesday. No casualties were reported.

Following the incident, the Torkham border gate was closed off for security reasons, she added.

"The matter is being coordinated with Afghan authorities," Farooqui said in a statement, adding that the gate is likely to be opened soon.

"Some mortars were fired from across the border in Afghanistan and landed inside Pakistan. They caused some damage to vehicles," Mahmood Aslam Wazir, deputy district commissioner of the area on the Pakistani side, told Reuters.

An Afghan official denied that Afghan forces had fired into Pakistan.

"In the past, Pakistan has played the same game whenever they want to close the Torkham crossing," Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, told Reuters.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had last year decided to keep the Torkham border crossing open for 24 hours in order to facilitate trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Despite measures to improve ties, however, there have been several incidents of border skirmishes between the Afghanistan and Pakistan forces.

In October last year, 11 people were injured in a border skirmish between the Pakistan and Afghanistan forces after the latter fired mortars and heavy machine guns in Narai district of Kunar province, targeting civilian population in the Arandu village.

According to Abdul Ghani Musamem, a government official in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, the clashes had erupted when Afghan troops used force to stop the construction of a border installation.

Pakistan Army is currently fencing the border and building forts for paramilitary forces along the porous Pak-Afghan border to check illegal cross-border movement of people.

Opinion

Editorial

Under siege
Updated 03 May, 2024

Under siege

Whether through direct censorship, withholding advertising, harassment or violence, the press in Pakistan navigates a hazardous terrain.
Meddlesome ways
03 May, 2024

Meddlesome ways

AFTER this week’s proceedings in the so-called ‘meddling case’, it appears that the majority of judges...
Mass transit mess
03 May, 2024

Mass transit mess

THAT Karachi — one of the world’s largest megacities — does not have a mass transit system worth the name is ...
Punishing evaders
02 May, 2024

Punishing evaders

THE FBR’s decision to block mobile phone connections of more than half a million individuals who did not file...
Engaging Riyadh
Updated 02 May, 2024

Engaging Riyadh

It must be stressed that to pull in maximum foreign investment, a climate of domestic political stability is crucial.
Freedom to question
02 May, 2024

Freedom to question

WITH frequently suspended freedoms, increasing violence and few to speak out for the oppressed, it is unlikely that...