KHYBER: The body of an Afghan national, lying at Zero Point on the Torkham border for the past several days, was finally handed over to Afghan authorities by local tribal elders on Thursday.

The development came a day after Pakistan announced a “temporary pause” in the ongoing Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against Afghan Taliban in view of Eidul Fitr and “at the request of brotherly Islamic countries”.

The body was spotted by locals, who recorded videos and reported the matter to security officials.

A team of local elders comprising Malak Tajuddin, Mufti Ejaz, Shah Khalid, Qari Jihad Shah, Qari Nazeem Gul and Saeed Khan visited the Torkham border to retrieve the body.

Mr Khalid told Dawn that the team members contacted Afghan officials who acknowledged that the body is of an Afghan national.

He said that with a temporary pause in Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, they requested local authorities to allow them to retrieve the body and hand it over to Afghan officials.

“Our requests were finally accepted and we were allowed to reach the spot and hand over the body to Afghan officials purely on humanitarian grounds,” he added.

He further said the body was badly decomposed and the delegation faced difficulty in placing it into a coffin.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2026