KHYBER: The authorities on Sunday allowed an Afghan woman and her ailing child to cross the Torkham border on humanitarian grounds and enter Pakistan for treatment.

Sources at the border said that the child was suffering from an undiagnosed ailment and needed urgent treatment at a hospital in Pakistan.

The border authorities permitted the mother and her child entry to Pakistan when they were approached by a local human rights activist, Islam Badshah.

Both the mother and her child were handed over to Mr Badshah after crossing the border. They were then taken to Peshawar. The names of the two Afghan nationals could not be known.

It was for the first time since the closure of the Torkham border in October last year that any Afghan national was permitted to come to Pakistan via a land route.

Afghan nationals with valid travel documents may travel to Pakistan by air only.

Meanwhile, another 100 Pakistani students, who had been stranded in Afghanistan, arrived here on Saturday.

Families of students said their semesters had already been completed and that they were on vacation, but they could not return home to Pakistan due to strict restrictions at the Torkham border.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2026