Border politics

The death of a woman and her young child as they were caught in a stampede at the Torkham border crossing while trying to cross from Afghanistan to Pakistan highlights a major problem of policing our porous border with Afghanistan. The Durand Line has always been a theoretical border and those separated by it have treated it either as if it doesn’t exist or as a mere formality. Since the war in Afghanistan, though, both countries have used the impossibility of policing the border as a way to score points against each other. Pakistan and Afghanistan routinely accuse each other of allowing militants to cross over. They do so without acknowledging that there is no way to seal a border that is both long and traverses rough terrain. Pakistan has an additional interest in repatriating refugees who have been settled in Pakistan for many years but who are refused not only citizenship but also identifying documents. The stampede at the Torkham border crossing appears to have been caused by a new demand by authorities that all those crossing over present valid identification, something few seemed to have had. Even after these two deaths, Pakistan is insisting that it will not allow anyone to enter without a valid visa. This will not affect the infiltration of militants, who have numerous ways of getting across the border, but will tear apart thousands of families and deny many their only source of income. Rather than change procedures at whim, both countries need to settle on a humanitarian way to allow cross-border traffic to proceed. The family and work ties that exist on both sides of the border cannot be erased and so a workable solution must be found.

The correct way to improve border security is not by inconveniencing those trying to cross for legitimate reasons but by cracking down on corrupt officials. The Durand Line, for example, has become one of the prime spots for the smuggling of imported cars. Since import duties on cars are much lower in Afghanistan than Pakistan, these cars are brought across the border by bribing officers and then sold in our country. The drugs trade, too, has long thrived thanks to the openness of the borders and the involvement of officials. Preventing militant infiltration will be much tougher since that would require cooperation from two governments that are always at loggerheads and may – according to some – even turn a blind eye to militants crossing the border to carry out attacks in the other country. For this, the only solution is a diplomatic one. Until diplomacy is given a chance to work, however, we cannot allow innocent civilians to die just so that Pakistan and Afghanistan can prove a point to each other.