KABUL, March 13: Pakistan has started fencing parts of its western border, the Afghan defence ministry said on Tuesday as the government raised objections saying the unmarked frontier was disputed.

Pakistan officials denied they had done any fencing but said work was set to begin.

“According to Afghan military intelligence, they have started fencing the border in an area opposite to Barmal,” defence ministry spokesman Gen Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. Barmal is in Paktika province.

“We should bear in mind that in most areas, the so-called Durand Line is not clear,” the ministry said. A fence in the area would separate tribes and families living on either side, it added. But Pakistan’s foreign ministry said the border between the two countries was not in question.

“There is an international border between the two countries and there should be absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind about that,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said.

“When we say we will not allow our territory to be used for militancy in Afghanistan we are very serious,” she said.

“Our decision to fence some areas on our side of the international border reflects our determination not to allow our soil to be used against Afghanistan.”

A Pakistan security official denied that any fencing had taken place but added that reconnaissance work was in progress.

“Some stores had been moved forward and areas are being identified and the work was about to start at some places,” he said.

He said fencing would be done in the “areas of concern to divert the people towards authorised routes and restrict the movement of miscreants”.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher, who was in Afghanistan, said efforts to control the movement of militants across the border should be agreed by all sides.

Mr Boucher said he hoped to raise the issue in Pakistan this week. “The US, Nato, Pakistan and Afghanistan need to work together,” he told reporters.—AFP