QUETTA: Amid tight se­­curity, thousands of Pakis­tani and Afghan nationals were allowed by the authorities to cross into their countries from the Chaman border on Saturday.

Pakistan opened its border with Afghanistan near Chaman for one day after a break of four days following a flag meeting between the military commanders of the two countries.

Thousands of Pakistani and Afghan nationals rea­c­hed both sides of the border from different areas of Pak­istan and Afghanistan. They started crossing into their countries at 8am when the Pakistan border authorities opened the Friendship Gate at the Pak-Afghan border. The crossing from both sides continued till 5pm. Both Pak­­i­­stani and Afghan natio­nal were allowed to cross the border after their national identity cards were checked.

“Over 15,000 people, including women and children, crossed into their countries smoothly and amid tight security arrangements,” Zakaullah Durrani, an official in the border town of Chaman, told Dawn.

He said only pedestrians were allowed to cross the border, adding that no vehicle loaded with Afghan transit trade or import and export goods was allowed to cross the border. He said 8,042 Af­­ghans and 6,966 Pakistanis, who were stranded in Pak­is­tan and Afghanistan due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cros­sed the border on Saturday.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2020