Pakistan again closes Torkham border crossing

 JALALABAD (PAN border guards once again blocked Torkham border crossing for the Afghans travelling without valid documents, officials said on Friday.

The busy border crossing was closed at 8am, an official of the Afghan border police, Maj. Nisar Ahmad, confirmed to Pajhwok Afghan News.

He said: “The people who have visas can cross the frontier, but the Afghan refugees without cards are not allowed to enter or leave Pakistan.”

Thousands of people, including women, children and patients, are waiting on both sides for the reopening of the border, said a shopkeeper in the town, Saif-ur-Rahman.

Over the past two months, Pakistan has repeatedly sealed the border after afghan police allegedly tortured Pakistani workers and tore their passports.

Due to last month’s blockade, 13 people including children died of cold weather in the Torkham.

A political analyst, Mohammad Hassan Haqyar, said Pakistan wanted to mount pressure on a weak Afghan government to accept the Durand Line as an international border.

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