Pakistan security forces repulsed terrorist attacks from across the Pak-Afghan border, killing six terrorists in two separates areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Sunday.
According to the ISPR, the military’s media wing, four personnel of the Frontier Corps (FC) and one soldier of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) were injured in the terrorist attacks.
“Terrorists from across the border carried fire raids and physical attacks on Pakistan’s border posts and border fencing parties in Bajaur in KP and Qamar Din Qarez in Balochistan,” said an ISPR statement.
“Taking advantage of ungoverned spaces and facilitation inside Afghanistan, terrorists are resorting to such attacks to prevent fencing and construction of border posts.”
The forces launched retaliatory attack, killing six and injuring many other terrorists.
“Security Forces responded effectively and repulsed physical attack. 6 terrorists killed and many injured. 4 soldiers of FC and one soldier of PAF (Deployed at observation post) got injured,” the army said.
“To consolidate the gains of successful kinetic operations against terrorism fencing of Pak-Afghan border and construction of border forts will continue irrespective of the challenges posed by inimical forces,” the ISPR added.
According to reports, Pakistan’s military has so far fenced off more than 43km of the frontier with Afghanistan. The military has also planned to recruit tens of thousands of new troops to man the border. It is not clear how long it will take to fence the entire boundary.
Authorities in Pakistan consider the fence mandatory for restriction of the movement of terrorists from across the country. However, the government in Kabul has been opposing the move.
The latest incident came just days after Pakistan and Afghanistan reported progress in their talks to sort out issues, including the border security through dialogue. Last week, a high-powered Afghan delegation led by its national security Adviser Hanif Atmar visited Islamabad for talks with the civil and military authorities.
Talks were part of the new mechanism recently agreed between the two countries. One of the understandings reached between the two neighbours was to avoid blame game.
The visit of Afghan delegation comes against the backdrop of an agreement reached between the two countries earlier this month to operationlise Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS).
APAPPS provides a framework to strengthen mutual trust and deepen interaction in all spheres of bilateral engagements. It is also a mechanism for finding solutions to bilateral areas of concern.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have had difficult patch in their relationship for the last many years mainly because of differences on how to put an end to the Afghan conflict.
Published in Daily Times, June 4th 2018.
