MONITORING (SW) – Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Friday said that the remaining fencing at the Durand Line with Afghanistan would be completed with the consent of the neighbouring country, stating that “they are our brothers”.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Rashid said that around 2,600 kilometres of the border had been fenced and expressed the hope that the remaining 21km would be completed “with the consent of our brothers”, reported Dawn News.
It added Pakistan has fenced most of the border despite protestations from Kabul, which has contested the British-era boundary demarcation that splits families and tribes on either side.
Over the past few weeks, videos have surfaced on social media purportedly showing Taliban fighters uprooting a portion of the fence along the Pak-Afghan border, claiming that the fencing had been erected inside Afghan territory.
In a more recent video being shared on Twitter, Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khwarzmi was seen saying that Pakistan had no right to fence the border and create a divide, adding that such a move was “inappropriate and against the law”.
On Jan 3, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, during a press conference in Islamabad, had acknowledged that there were “some complications” pertaining to the fencing of Pak-Afghan border but added that the matter was being discussed with the Afghan Taliban government as he blamed “certain miscreants” for blowing such incidents out of proportion.
A day later, the Taliban government in Afghanistan said that issues related to the fencing of the border would be addressed through diplomatic channels.
