Islamabad: The army reported that on Wednesday, an Afghan security officer used “unprovoked firing” at a busy border crossing, killing two Pakistani residents, among them a 12-year-old boy. The shooting incident was reported at the Chaman border point, also known as Friendship Gate, one of the two border crossings that people from Afghanistan use to enter and exit Pakistan, the other being Torkham in the northwest.
At 1600 hours, “an Afghan sentry employed at Friendship Gate” at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Balochistan, “opened unprovoked and indiscriminate firing at pedestrians” traveling from Pakistan to Afghanistan, according to the army.
2 Pakistani citizens were killed at the border by Afghanistan in “unprovoked firing”
At the departure gate, which is on the zero line, the incident took place.
To prevent collateral damage, it stated in a statement, “Own troops exercised extreme restraint and avoided any exchange of fire in the presence of innocent passengers.”
An injured youngster was being treated at the Chaman District Headquarters Hospital after being evacuated by security personnel, and the remains were moved there.
According to the statement, Afghan authorities have been contacted to find out why such a careless and dangerous act was committed as well as to apprehend and hand over the offender to Pakistani authorities.
The army added that in order to prevent similar situations from happening again in the future, the interim Afghan government needed to “exercise control over its troops and impart discipline to act responsibly.”
A senior citizen and a kid were murdered in the incident, according to interior minister Sarfaraz Bugti. Such incidents “are in no way acceptable,” he declared.
The event happened barely one day after Pakistan gave all unauthorized inhabitants until November 1 to leave the country or face forcible eviction. It was deemed “unacceptable” by the Afghan administration, who also requested that Pakistan reconsider it.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have gotten worse recently because, according to Islamabad, the temporary Taliban government was unable to halt attacks by the terrorist Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group across the border.
