Rejecting earlier claims, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry said on Monday that Angoor Adda, the border crossing facility in South Waziristan, had not been handed over to Afghanistan.
While briefing the Senate Standing Committee on defence and foreign affairs in Islamabad, the foreign secretary said Pakistan Army had just constructed a gate for the Kabul government in Afghan area as a ‘gift’.
Pakistan had earlier announced that the checkpost had been handed over to the Afghan authorities.
According to an official statement, the ‘purpose-built’ crossing facility at Angoor Adda was handed over to Afghan authorities “to strengthen brotherly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and … to improve border management.”
The statement hours after heavy armed clashes broke out at the Torkham border on Sunday night as Afghan security forces resorted to unprovoked firing injuring two people, officials said.
According to security officials and locals, workers were building a gate on the Pakistani side of the Torkham border when they came under fire from the Afghan side.
Meanwhile, the ISPR said Afghans fired at the under-construction gate on the Pakistani side of the border.Pakistan on Saturday handed over a border crossing facility in South Waziristan to Afghan authorities as a goodwill gesture.
According to an official statement, the ‘purpose-built’ crossing facility at Angoor Adda was handed over to Afghan authorities “to strengthen brotherly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan and … to improve border management.”
“This gesture will act as a catalyst to bring momentum for establishing peace and stability along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,” the statement said. It added that both sides, during the handover process, “reiterated that all border-related issues will be amicably resolved through mutual consultations subsequently.”
Lt Gen Asim Bajwa also shared the layout of the border gate.
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