Pak-Afghan border relaxed for stranded Afghans to enter native country

LANDIKOTAL: Around 1000 Afghan citizens stranded in Pakistan due to coronavirus pandemic were allowed entry into their native country on Monday, police said.

District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Iqbal told The News that they had made arrangements for those Afghan citizens to leave Pakistan. He said that the Afghan government had set up quarantine centres for 3000 on the Afghan side of Torkham border. Meanwhile, thousands Afghan citizens waiting in various cities of Pakistan rushed to Torkham border when they heard about the opening of the border with Pakistan. Long queues of passenger vehicles were seen on Peshawar-Torkham highway heading to Torkham to cross the border. Zafar Khan and Kamran Laghmani told this scribe that they had come to Pakistan for medical treatment but got stranded due to closure of the border. They said they were happy while returning to their homes after one and a half months. “I am so thankful of Pakistan and Afghan governments who relaxed the border for us. But we have to be quarantined for 14 days in Afghanistan before we go home in Laghman,” Zafar said.

Torkham authorities said they would close the border on April 9. Meanwhile, Afghan citizens who entered Afghanistan from Pakistan on Monday set ablaze the quarantine centre on Afghan side of Torkham border, sources said. The sources said those who were put in isolation wards in Afghanistan set fire to the tented quarantine centres.