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Observers to resume Durand Line work today

Shaukat Piracha

ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the tripartite commission created to try to settle disputes about the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and consisting of representatives from Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US will resume its work on Monday.

Sources said the committee would verify border areas on the Afghan side as part of its verification job. The commission was formed in June this year to resolve security issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The border dispute between the two countries had a high profile in its previous two meetings against the backdrop of the Afghan government’s allegations that Pakistani troops crossed into Afghan territory during military operations in Mohmand.

When the commission met on July 17 in Kabul, it constituted a sub-committee to verify allegations against Pakistani troops. However, the sub-committee could not resolve the issue as both Pakistan and Afghan proceed with different maps of the area. The commission met again in Bagram on August 12 and extended the working of the sub-committee. It also set up a hotline between its members after two Pakistani soldiers were killed by US forces along the Afghan border.

“Kabul insists on the re-demarcation of the Durand Line but Pakistan says that the issue is closed,” sources said. “After its visit to the Pakistani side in Mohmand Agency, the sub-committee was satisfied that Pakistani troops did not infiltrate Afghanistan,” sources said. The commission, at its October 10 meeting in Rawalpindi, directed the sub-committee to submit its report on 15 November.

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