Pakistan need to re-orient ties with Afghanistan beyond security: Experts

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 11 (ANI): Pakistan needed to re-orient its relations with Afghanistan beyond the security perspective to reduce the gap of mistrust between the two neighbours, the experts said at a consultation on ‘Afghan peace and reconciliation; Pakistan’s interests and policy options,’ according to The Nation.

As per the Pakistani newspaper, the experts suggested that Pakistan needed to abandon its approach of conditioning the promotion of trade activities between the two neighbours with the resolution of security issues because this scheme would prove counterproductive. The experts expressed these views in a consultation on “Afghan peace and reconciliation; Pakistan’s interests and policy options” organized by the Islamabad-based think tank Pak Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) on Wednesday.

The representatives of political parties, former diplomats, academics, retired military officials, and journalists among other experts on Pak-Afghan affairs both from Afghanistan and Pakistan participated in the discussion. The main themes of the consultation, which is the 7th in a series of discussions organized by PIPS on the Afghan peace process, are the “Emerging Pak-Afghan relations; challenges and way forward” and “Emerging Afghan situation and its interface with the countries near and beyond.”

The experts also stated that Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan was larger than counterterrorism and security and it should see it in a bigger picture, reported The Nation. They also urged the need for soft management of the Pak-Afghan border to remove hurdles in trade activities and the movement of people between both countries.

The relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan is deteriorating ever since the Taliban re-gained control over the latter country. Recently, an Afghan national, Faiz Muhammad, died in Karachi’s Landhi jail. She was reportedly suffering from a severe illness while in prison, Afghan-based Khaama Press reported. The Afghan citizen, Muhammad, was arrested last month by Karachi police for failing to provide legal residence documents.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), earlier this week, arrested five Afghan citizens from Peshawar airport during the immigration process. The arrested Afghan citizens were all set to board an international flight to London on fake Afghan passports. Those arrested were handed over to an anti-human trafficking cell for further investigations, as per Khaama Press. The Afghan consulate in Karachi in January said that over the past three months, at least three Afghan refugees have died in prisons in Pakistan, Afghanistan-based TOLO News reported.

This comes as Afghan refugees in Pakistan complain of mistreatment by the country’s police. Pajhwok Afghan News recently reported that Pakistan’s military forces torture and harass Afghans who travel through the Spin Boldak-Chaman gate. The Spin Boldak-Chaman Gate also known as The Friendship Gate is located on the Durand Line (Pak-Afghan border).

Passengers travelling to Pakistan say the Pakistani forces misbehave with them, keep them waiting for hours on different pretexts and extort them.
The Spin Boldak-Chaman border between Afghanistan and Pakistan border is crossed by more than 20,000 people daily for trade, treatment and other purposes.