In response to “unprovoked” artillery fire at their border, Pakistan summoned an Afghan diplomat. Tensions between the South Asian neighbors have been rising over the past few weeks.
The Afghan Chargé d’Affaires in Islamabad was summoned to the foreign ministry, where Pakistan’s strong condemnation of recent incidents of unprovoked cross-border shelling that resulted in casualties, injuries, and property damage was conveyed, according to a statement from the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday.
It was stated again that both sides were still responsible for protecting civilians and that such events must be avoided.
In what Pakistan claimed was unjustified fire from Afghan forces Sunday in the southern border town of Chaman in the Balochistan region, at least six persons were killed and more than a dozen were injured. On the Afghan side, 10 persons were injured in addition to the death of a Taliban member. At least 16 Pakistani civilians were injured on Thursday after a second wave of shelling.
The violent altercation on Sunday is thought to have started because Pakistan, which has been attempting to fence its porous border with Afghanistan, was building a border checkpoint.
The Durand Line, a boundary marking established during the British era, has been disputed by Afghanistan and the Taliban who have both protested to the fence along their 2,700km (1,675-mile) border.
In a statement released on Friday, Pakistan reiterated its commitment to “maintaining fraternal relations with Afghanistan” and referred to peaceful borders as “intrinsic” to achieving this goal.
According to local media, Pakistan’s Minister of Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated to the National Assembly that Kabul had expressed regret for the event on Sunday, but four days later, violence broke out once more.
Since the Taliban took back power in August of last year, border tensions between the neighbors have been worse because Pakistan claims that militant organizations like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) use Afghan soil to launch operations.
After almost six months, a truce between Pakistan and the TTP, commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban, broke down in November. The TTP, whose ideology is similar to that of the Afghan Taliban, has been fighting against Islamabad. Based on its extreme interpretation of Islam, it aspires to impose Islamic law.
The Taliban in Afghanistan, who mediated the truce, deny harboring Pakistani fighters.
Every day, thousands of people, including traders, Afghans seeking medical care in Pakistan, and individuals visiting family, pass the border between Spin Boldak, Afghanistan, and Chaman, Pakistan.
At the Chaman border crossing last month, a gunman fatally shot a Pakistani security guard, forcing it to close for a week.
This month, shots were fired at Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul, in what Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described as “an assassination attempt” on the head of the mission, injuring a security guard as well.
Hina Rabbani Khar, the foreign minister of Pakistan, traveled to Kabul last month to speak with the Taliban leaders of that country about relations.
