ISLAMABAD – Pakistan and Afghanistan are yet to make a meaningful joint effort to purge their border of terrorists who are still using it as buffers to continue with the violence and turmoil in the region, The Nation has reliably learnt.
Background discussions with senior government aides, diplomats and analysts revealed that both Kabul and Islamabad have so far shown dismal progress on their bilateral border management plans even though they had agreed to reactive the joint border management commission in 2014.
According to the sources, both Islamabad and Kabul are still working on the proposals to make a sketch out a meaningful joint action plan to combat the terrorists still using the Pak-Afghan border as their safe heaven.
The need for such a meaningful joint mechanism has come after massive terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the past few months.
Senior government aides insist that Pakistan on its part had achieved significant milestones against terrorists since launching of its military operation Zarb-e-Azb, and the recent tragic attacks in Pakistan were carried out by those who evaded the military operations and fled into Afghanistan.
“Remnants of the defunct Tehreek-i-Taliban (TTP) fighters who evaded the military operations and fled into Afghanistan have regrouped under the leadership of Mullah Fazlullah in Afghanistan and orchestrated the recent attacks on Pakistan,” a senior government official told The Nation accusing Mullah Fazlullah, who is living in Afghanistan since 2009, of masterminding the recent attacks in parts of KP and FATA region.
On its part the Afghan government which also acknowledges the presence of Mullah Fazlullah and his fighters in Afghanistan has so far failed to take them out.
Until the drawdowning of the US combat troops, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States used to have a trilateral mechanism to counter terrorism in the region.
Another problem cited by the sources is the massive movement of Afghan refugees between Pakistan and Afghanistan as the most grey area the Afghan government has been shying away to sort out.
Pakistan which is still hosting millions of Afghan refugees on its soil believes that in the given circumstances they have become serious threat to its national security and therefore need to be repatriated without further delay.
Officials argue that since they continue travelling between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the terrorists are using them as a shield to easily disguise them in crossing the border freely on the both sides.
“Despite repeated requests from Islamabad, Kabul has not done anything significant against the TTP remnants in Afghanistan”, said Najam Refigure, Director Research at the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad.
He was of the view that Afghanistan has been shying away from extending its hand to Pakistan in as a sincere effort to evolve an effective joint mechanism and called for a serious joint effort to secure to the Pak- Afghan border.
On the other hand, Leader of Opposition in Pakistan’s Senate, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsen, has launched a public campaign on social media for fencing of the Afghan border as the most viable option to check and curb the illegal cross-border movement.
Many of his followers support the cause are citing the example of India for fencing its borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.
KP Chief Minister Parvez Khattak in his reaction to the rampage caused by the terrorists on Bacha Khan University Charsadda last week also emphasized the need for fencing of the Pak-Afghan border.
“If there is a will, there is way to do it”, Mr. Khattak was quoted as saying in response to a question by a private TV channel. However, some security experts viewed his proposal as infeasible saying if NATO was unable to do it, how can Pakistan do it alone largely because of its being porous and lengthy.http://nation.com.pk/national/25-Jan-2016/kabul-islamabad-yet-to-jointly-purge-border
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