QUETTA: A flag meeting between Pakistani and Afghan officials at the Friendship Gate in Chaman to resolve the issues arising out of an incident that forced the closure of the border between the two countries turned out to be fruitless and the border crossing remained closed on Saturday.

The Chaman border crossing was closed after some Afghans burnt a Pakistani flag in the Vesh area of Afghanistan on Thursday evening and also pelted the Friendship Gate with stones.

During the meeting that lasted more than an hour, the Pakistani delegation led by Lt Col Changez told the Afghan team led by Col Muhammad Ali that hundreds of Pakistanis had marched to the border on Thursday in protest against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The people who took part in the procession were actually raising slogans against Modi and not against Afghan leaders. “And yet some Afghans gathered at the Friendship Gate and chanted slogans against Pakistan and later burnt a Pakistani flag,” Lt Col Changez told the Afghan officials.

At this, the Afghan officials alleged that the Pakistani protesters were carrying pictures of President Ashraf Ghani and were raising slogans against the Afghan leader, not Modi.

They urged the Pakistani officials to reopen the border crossing.

According to sources, the Pakistani officials turned down the request.

They told Dawn that the Pakistani authorities had decided not to reopen the crossing until an apology was tendered by the Afghan officials. “The Afghan officials should apologise for the unpleasant and ugly incident. This has been conveyed clearly to the Afghans,” an official source said.

Asked when the crossing could be reopened, a border official simply said: “I have no idea. We follow the orders of our high command.”

Meanwhile, all vehicular traffic and all trade and business activities remained suspended as the Friendship Gate remained shut throughout the day.

Transit trade between the two countries and supply to the Nato forces in Afghanistan have been adversely affected due to the closure.

People with shops and businesses in Vesh, on the Afghan side of the border, and Chaman, on this side of the border, have been affected particularly badly, according to sources.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2016