LANDI KOTAL / QUETTA: Thous­ands of stranded Afghans and Pakistanis crossed into their respective counties through Torkham and Chaman crossings amid tight security after the Pakistan government reopened the two main points on Tuesday for two days in order to facilitate their return.

An Afghan woman died in a stampede at the Torkham border crossing. According to immigration officials, Ms Noorzia of Afghanistan’s Parwan province fell and was crushed to death under the feet of hundreds of rushing Afghans who were made to wait for hours for verification of their travel documents near the National Logistic Cell terminal.

The body of the woman, who had waited for 18 days to return to her country, was later handed over to her relatives.

Thousands of Afghans, Pakistanis cross into their countries; Afghan woman killed in stampede

All the border crossings with Afghanistan were closed on Feb 17 after a suicide attack on the shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan, Sindh.

Officials told Dawn that about 2,600 Afghans with valid documents, including passports and visas, were allowed to cross into Afghanistan via Torkham, while about 600 Pakistanis came back.

The immigration officials also withdrew the facility of cross-border movement of Pakistani transporters by only showing the computerised national identity card (CNIC). All the Pakistanis stranded in Afghanistan are now required to show their national passport for entry into the country.

The officials admitted that the process of verification was slow, which hampered the speedy return of the stranded Afghans and caused commotion and frustration among them.

They said the Afghans without legal documents had been sent back and the Pakistanis too without passports had not been allowed entry into Pakistan.

Members of the Landi Kotal bazaar committee told Dawn that about 100 Afghan men and women who had not been allowed to go back to their country returned to the under-construction building in the bazaar. Some of them were seriously ill, they added.

Vehicular traffic on the Torkham border remained suspended and local residents were also not allowed to go to the border.

Chaman border

A large number of Afghans and Pakistanis crossed into their respective counties through the friendship gate at Chaman. Long queues of people were seen on both sides of the border since early in the morning.

Officials said that 120 Afghan nationals with valid documents had entered their country after completing all immigration process at the Chaman office of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), while 15 Pakistanis returned home. Some of the Afghans returned to their country were patients suffering from cancer and other serious diseases.

A senior official of the FIA told Dawn that a few days ago about 74 Afghan nationals, including women and children, with valid papers had been allowed to go back to their country.

Sources said that besides crossing on valid visa and passport, over 8,000 Pakistanis and Afghans, who were running businesses in Afghanistan’s Vesh Mandi and the border town of Chaman, were also allowed to cross into their countries.

Under an agreement signed between the border authorities of Pakistan and Afghanistan a few months ago, the Afghan nationals were issued a permit called Tazkirah for crossing into Chaman to look after their business on a daily basis, while the Pakistanis doing their business in Vesh Mandi were eligible to go there by showing CNICs.

The officials said that on the first day of reopening of the border, 6,728 Afghan nationals having Tazkirah crossed into Afghanistan through the friendship gate, while 1,631 Pakistanis with CNICs reached Chaman from Afghanistan.

Tens of thousands of trucks, containers and other vehicles were seen parked on both sides of the border. These vehicles were loaded with goods of transit trade, import and export and Nato supplies for US troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The border was closed at 5pm. The officials said the border would reopen on Wednesday morning for another day to facilitate Afghans and Pakistanis with valid visa and passport to cross into their respective countries.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2017