Islamabad summons Afghan envoy over Zhob killings

ISLAMABAD (PAN): Islamabad on Wednesday summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires and lodged a strong protest with him over the killing of five Pakistanis in cross-border fire in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

The Foreign Office asked the diplomat for an investigation into the incident and said the Afghans must adhere to an agreed border coordination mechanism among Pakistan).

In line with the tripartite pact, military operations in an area of four kilometres on both sides of the border is not allowed except for instances in which the other side has been intimated about the activity.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “The recurrence of such incidents, which are detrimental to friendly relations and undermine goodwill between the two brotherly countries needed to be prevented.”

Five Pakistanis, including a woman, were killed and 25 others injured on Wednesday when Afghan security personnel opened fire at a border village in the Zhob district of Balochistan, bordering the southern province of Kandahar.

The woman and her three brothers were among the victims and a Levies official was injured in the pre-dawn incident in Karez Qamaruddin village. Zulfiqar Durrani, a senior administration official, said Afghan soldiers entered Pakistani territory to launch indiscriminate fire.

But the Kandahar police chief said an operation was conducted on Afghan soil against the insurgents. Gen. Abdul Raziq told Pajhwok Afghan News information about the casualties was not immediately available.

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