Pak-Afghan border fencing to be done in phases

ISLAMABAD: At last, Pakistan has taken the first major stride in the long journey of fencing over 2,400-kilometer long border with Afghanistan, involving billions of rupees, to check infiltration of terrorists from across the border once and for all.

To start with, the fencing has been commenced in the high threat zones of Bajaur and Mohmand agencies in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Moreover additional technical surveillance means are also being deployed along the border besides regular air close watch for the same purpose, according to Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Credible information is available with the government that most incursions of terrorists, who strike in different parts of Pakistan, take place through these agencies. Therefore, they have to be immediately plugged.

For years, Pakistan has forcefully argued with Washington to provide financial support for fencing of the Pak-Afghan border as Islamabad is not in a position to mobilize such huge funding, but the US has never paid any attention to it. The result is that cross border movements have largely been going on unchecked. Indeed, in the absence of stringent measures, such mobility can’t be controlled.

Finally, the Pakistan government has decided to spare funds for fencing in phases as it can’t do it in one go due to scarcity of resources. The decision was taken at a high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that was also attended by the army chief before the premier visited Kuwait early this month.

During his trip, he disclosed to the accompanying media men that it has been decided to fence the Pak-Afghan border as a major step to curb unrestrained cross-border movements with a view to eliminating illegal infiltrations from Afghanistan.

The civ-mil leaderships reached this conclusion after the recent wave of suicide bombings that claimed more than 100 lives in Lahore, Sehwan Sharif and other areas. It was determined that there was no option but to fence the border due to lack of any worthwhile cooperation from Afghanistan to rein in the terrorists, holed up in safe havens there.

Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar continues to liaise and coordinate with the top military leadership so that there is no impediment in the smooth flow of funds for such national security enterprises.

Bajaur Agency, the smallest agency of the Fata with a hilly terrain, borders the Kunar province of Afghanistan with a 52-kilometer border. The Mohmand Agency is bounded by Bajaur Agency to the north, Khyber Agency to the south, Malakand and Charsadda districts to the east and Peshawar district to the southeast.

The Bajaur Agency is about 72 km long and 32 km broad, and lies at a high level to the east of the Kunar Valley from which it is separated by a continuous line of rugged frontier hills, forming a barrier easily passable at one or two points, according to Wikipedia. Across this barrier, the old road from Kabul to Pakistan ran before the Khyber Pass was adopted as the main route.

To the south of Bajaur is the mountain district of the Mohmands. To the east, beyond the Panjkora river, are the hills of Swat. To the north is an intervening watershed between Bajaur and the small Tehsil of Dir. It is over this watershed and through the valley of Dir that the new road from Malakand and the Punjab runs to Chitral.

The drainage of Bajaur flows eastwards, starting from the eastern slopes of the dividing ridge, which overlooks the Kunar and terminating in the Panjkora river so that the district lies on a slope tilting gradually downwards from the Kunar ridge to the Panjkora.

Pakistan has 2,430-kilomter (1,510 miles) international border with Afghanistan. It was established in 1896 between Sir Mortimer Durand, a British diplomat and civil servant of British India, and Abdur Rahman Khan, the Afghan Amir, to fix the limit of their respective spheres of influence and improve diplomatic relations and trade.

Afghanistan was considered by the British as an independent princely state at the time although the British controlled its foreign affairs and diplomatic relations. The single-page agreement dated 12 November 1893 contains seven short articles, including a commitment not to exercise interference beyond the Durand Line. A joint British-Afghan demarcation survey took place starting from 1894, covering some 800 miles of the border.

The Pak-Afghan border cuts through the Pashtun tribal areas and further south through the Balochistan region. It demarcates Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan from the northeastern and southern provinces of Afghanistan. From a geopolitical and geostrategic perspective, it has been described as one of the most dangerous borders in the world.