LANDI KOTAL: Scores of illegal stranded Afghans continue to enter Khyber through various routes for their onward journey to Afghanistan via Torkham despite an official ban on their entry to the tribal district prior to opening of the border for pedestrian crossing on every Saturday, according to sources.

Sources in Landi Kotal and Jamrud told Dawn that most of those stranded Afghans were also without proper legal travel documents. They were eager to avail the opportunity provided to them by the Pakistan government to go back to their country without producing any travel documents during the immigration process at Torkham border at the time of their return, they added.

Pakistan had made the possession of legal travel documents for both Afghans and Pakistanis for cross border travelling via Torkham and Chaman since 2016.

Sources said that most of the returning Afghans were daily wagers and factory workers, who had mostly come from Punjab and some cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They now wait for their return to their country.

They said that the returning Afghans paid high fare to the taxicabs and also bribed the personnel of law enforcement agencies posted at different checkposts along Peshawar-Torkham Highway to cross the border prior to Eidul Fitr.

Locals say 1500-2000 Afghans living in mosques and shops in Landi Kotal bazaar

Peshawar Capital City Police Officer Mohammad Ali Gandapur during his recent visit to Landi Kotal had ordered local police not to allow Afghans beyond Karkhano Market checkpost in order to avoid rush and congestion in Landi Kotal and Torkham prior to opening of border on Saturdays.

However, the ban on entry to Khyber is violated by stranded Afghans and local police alike as hundreds of people reach Landi Kotal on daily basis.

Sources said that local transporters, mostly taxi drivers, exploited the situation in their favour by increasing fares almost three to four times.

There are also reports of taxicab owners swapping their passengers with drivers of Suzuki vans to deceive the police posted at checkposts. The vans are mostly used for transportation of local passengers.

Noorul Amin, a taxi driver, alleged during a press conference in Landi Kotal that the van drivers shared half of their fare with police posted on checkposts to allow them to take the illegal passengers to Landi Kotal.

Local police denied these charges and instead argued that forcibly stopping those Afghans from onward journey towards border crossing would unnecessarily create an ‘ugly situation’.

The district administration too is not happy with the ‘uncalled for’ arrival of scores of illegal Afghans in Khyber, particularly Landi Kotal. The administration believes that it could jeopardise its efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus in the district.

Deputy Commissioner Mehmud Aslam Wazir told this scribe that administration requested the border security officials to grant onetime out of turn permission to those Afghans, who had converged at Landi Kotal in large numbers to go to Afghanistan as Eidul Fitr was round the corner.

He said that convergence of Afghans prior to a designated date of their return to Afghanistan via Torkham was illegal and administration had not permitted them to enter Khyber. He said that the issue was already taken up with police and security officials.

Sources said that around 1,500 to 2,000 Afghans were lodged in two main mosques at Landi Kotal bazaar while some with families were staying at empty shops and a newly built commercial plaza.

Saeed khan, a local electrician, said that he along with 12 more local volunteers arranged Iftar and Sehr for the Afghans staying in the old Jamia Masjid.

Sajid Khan, a local resident, told this scribe that a number of Afghans spent their nights sleeping on footpaths in miserable conditions. “They are literally seen begging for food and shelter till they are allowed to return to Afghanistan,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2020