In the wake of ensuring the security of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Pakistan is adamant to fence the Durand Line while also restricting the Pashtun solidarity in the region.
According to media reports, the proposed fence, along the 2640 KM Durand Line is planned to be supported by over 400 outposts and a similar number of check posts. The fencing work which started in 2016, continued unhindered till the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 2021.
The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan has witnessed several instances of illegal bombardment by the Pakistani forces mainly in the Khost and Kunar provinces resulting in casualties and financial losses on the Afghan side.
In the current year till May 1st, 2022, there have been around 40 clashes along the Durand Line most of which pertain to the border dispute. More than 40 people died when rockets were fired from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) helicopters in Kunar, Khost, Paktika and other bordering provinces on April 16, 2022.
The situation has come to such a pass that the Pakistani ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry in Kabul and was issued a stern warning. The sequence of events suggests that a major confrontation with the Afghan Taliban, which Pakistan desperately wants to avoid, may just be around the corner, the Afghan Diaspora Network reported.
In Pakistan, most of the problems precipitating cross border threats in the Af-Pak region are created from within by flawed state policies as the nation's politics have been plagued by failures in establishing an equitable and honourable existence for its ethnically divided population, living on both sides of the border disturbing their agricultural land, traditional border trade and movement of labour.
The ethnic consciousness of Pashtuns and Balochis in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan is essentially arising out of this sense of alienation and deprivation. As a consequence, border areas have experienced tribal insurgencies, ethnic and sectarian struggles and secessionist movements by Balochis and Pashtuns.
Pakistan's contention that the Af-Pak border is plagued with cross-border movement of terror groups, infiltration, illegal immigration, smuggling and drug trafficking may be valid to some extent.
Pakistan's deep state is known to be involved in the largest state-sponsored drug peddling operations along the Af-Pak border and has emerged as the prime exponent of the narco-terror nexus.
The Durand Line passes through the present-day Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (NWFP), Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. It also includes 10 provinces in Afghanistan. Disputed in the context of the struggle for the Pashtun homeland, the Durand Line has of late become the cause of heightened border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
( With inputs from ANI )
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