The FC officials informed that the Taliban had shut the border early on Thursday morning without taking them into confidence…reports Asian Lite News
Torkham border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has reopened for trade activities, informed Pakistani Frontier Corps (FC) on Thursday deployed at the border.
“Long waiting queues of stalled trade vehicles are seen on both sides of the border as the border was closed and clearance process was suspended. After clearance process resumed for trade vehicles, the issue of traffic jam at the Torkham border was addressed,” said FC officials, reported The News.
The FC officials informed that the Taliban had shut the border early on Thursday morning without taking them into confidence.
The Taliban later intimated to the FC officials that this was done as there was a large crowd of Afghans wanting to come to Pakistan gathered on their side of the border, who were not being allowed entry by the Pakistani authorities due to COVID-19 restrictions, reported Dawn.
People who were stuck on both sides of the border faced hardships due to the closure of the border, officials added.
It is been more than a month since the Taliban captured Kabul after an aggressive and rapid advance against Afghanistan government forces amid the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country.
The country plunged into crisis last month after Kabul fell to the Taliban and the democratically elected government of former president Ashraf Ghani collapsed.
Taliban dismantling human rights
The Taliban has taken steps to steadily dismantle the human rights gains of the last 20 years, rights groups have observed.
In a report released earlier this week, three rights groups stated that the outfit has steadily abused human rights including placing restrictions on women, freedom of expression, civil society, and girls’ education.
The report, by Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), referred to attacks on human rights advocates, who are being hunted in door-to-door searches, TOLO News reported.
“In just over five weeks since assuming control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have clearly demonstrated that they are not serious about protecting or respecting human rights. We have already seen a wave of violations, from reprisal attacks and restrictions on women, to crackdowns on protests, the media and civil society,” said Dinushika Dissanayake, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for South Asia. (ANI)
