Khyber — A high level delegation from General Headquarter (GHQ), Rawalpindi visited Landi Kotal and inspected western border fencing here on Thursday.
According to the military sources, the delegation comprising Col Amir, Col Kamal Alam and Mr Johnson of United Kingdom arrived in the town through helicopter. The visiting officials were jointly received by outgoing Commandant Khyber Rifle, Col Farrukh Humayun and newly posted Commandant Col Bilal at Bigbin helipad.
The guest officials visited Pak-Afghan sharing western border and examined fencing installed on it.
They were also briefed on the security measures adopted at border and the effective border management functioned at the boundary to foil unlawful penetration from the across the border and vice versa.
Fencing Pak-Afghan border
A 35 kilometres long portion along selected border areas was fenced. In June 2011, Major General Athar Abbas, the then spokesman for the army, said: “We did fence around 35km of the border area as it faced continuous militant incursions. It was a joint project of ISAF and Afghanistan. But then they backed out. It was a very costly project.”
During the Musharraf period, a biometric system was installed by Pakistan on border crossings. Afghanistan had objected to the system. The bio-metric system remains intact at the border, although it is yet to be made fully functional.
Afghanistan’s Concerns
Afghan government has been opposing Pakistan’s plans and efforts to fence the border, citing that the it would result in “the limitation of the freedom of movement of Pashtun tribes people”.