KHYBER: A tense calm prevailed on both sides of the Torkham border on Thursday despite an overnight a partial letup in artillery shelling.

Local traders and transporters told Dawn that they were asked by the authorities to pull out all the stranded vehicles from the customs terminal.

Sources said that the intensity of artillery shelling had greatly reduced during the night with the last shell fired early on Thursday morning.

They said that the guns had fallen silent but people were wary of yet another escalation of the gun battle while most people preferring to stay away from the main border.

Some residents of Bacha Maina, however, dared to visit their houses which they had vacated on March 3 when the gun battle between Pakistan and Afghanistan border forces started.

“Most of the household items were disorderly lying on the floor with a number of spots of our house hit by bullets and mortars during the last three days,”

Sabir Khan, a local resident, told Dawn after a brief visit to his house in Bacha Maina.

He said despite a lull in the fighting, people were still scared but some families had to return to their houses as they had no other place to go.

He said their womenfolk and children were the most affected as they were extremely distressed by the current situation but were reluctant to shift to any other locality.

Said Wali, another resident, told Dawn that ordinary citizens were badly hit by the current situation as they had left everything behind while they were finding it difficult to get edibles and other necessary items for Iftar and Sehr.

He regretted that no serious effort was made so far to defuse the situation and help restore peace while also reopening border for the convenience of people of both the neighbouring countries.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2025