Pakistan will complete all the fencing works along its border with Afghanistan by the month-end,  announced Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid in parliament. The two countries share 2760 kilometers of the long border. 

Around 88 percent of the total work on the project has already been completed, Rashid was quoted as saying by Dawn in parliament on Saturday. He added that the remaining work will be fast-tracked and would be completed by 30 June. 

The announcement came at a time when the fighting has intensified in Afghanistan in several locations. The porous border between the two nations is often used by militants operating both sides of the border to carry out attacks. 

Pakistan has started fencing its border, which runs through mountainous and largely unpatrolled areas, in 2017. Significantly, incidents of attacks on security forces in border areas have also increased. Most attacks were claimed by the Tahreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as Pakistan Taliban. 

A new security system, with around 1000 newly established checkpoints, has been developed for guarding the border. Surveillance cameras and infrared detectors were also installed at several points. 

The Durand Line, carved by the British in 1896, became the internationally recognized border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, though the latter still disputes the claim. Significantly, the Taliban, which gets covert backing from Pakistan, also doesn’t recognize the Durand Line as the official border. 

(SAM)