Now when it is confirmed beyond doubt that two of the attackers on the Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, came from Afghanistan crossing the Durand Line at Torkham, the mismanagement of the border crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan must raise alarm bells within our government and security establishment.
Investigators have confirmed that two of the four attackers in the January 20 attack on the Charsadda University have been identified through the biometric verification system with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). One was from Swat and the other from Sararogha in South Waziristan. Both had been issued CNICs.
According to different estimates of security officials, around 10,000 to 28, 000 cross the Pakistan-Afghani border at Torkham every day and, surprisingly, 90 percent of them do not have any valid travel documents, including passports and visas. While most of those who enter Pakistan are left to proceed by Pakistani security officials without hindrance, many are asked to grease the palms of the officials. Low level officials ask the money from the Afghans, who don’t have valid travel documents, but it is an open secret that this money is shared with high officials of the administration of the Khyber Agency, where the border crossing of Torkham is situated.
Crossing of so many people from Afghanistan to Pakistan is a problem itself but it is only one side of the story. The more serious problem is the entrance of these people, mostly Afghani nationals, without proper or rather any, security checks and clearance. According to recent media reports, Pakistani security officials, coming from different forces, including the Frontier Corps, Khasadars (levies) and Custom officials among other departments have expressed their inability to physically check so many people crossing the border. This must ring alarm bells inside the power corridors and architects and executioners of the National Action Plan (NAP) designed to counter religious extremism and terrorism in Pakistan. If they have not been able to fulfill the task, why have their local officers not expressed this inability, in writing to their high-ups in Islamabad and Rawalpindi? If they have written, what has been the response and practical action of this? This needs to be clarified by the government.
Keeping in view the animosity of the Afghan security establishment towards Pakistan and the meaningful presence of many members, including commanders of Pakistani terrorist organizations on Afghan soil, our inability to mange a regular border crossing is alarming. Pakistan and Afghanistan have around 2,400 kilometers of border, known as the Durand Line, running along FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, mostly inhabited by Pakhtun tribes. As most of this border is located in highly inaccessible terrain, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to secure the border fully. But if the above-mentioned is the situation at a regular border crossing, one can imagine the situation along rest of the border. In such a situation all the government efforts to wage a decisive war against terrorism in the country, most of whose perpetrators have traditionally been using Afghan soil to escape action and arrest, seem a futile exercise. For instance, according to Pakistani security officials, the launch and successful execution of Operation Zarb-e-Azb in North Waziristan in June 2014 forced most of the Pakistani Taliban groups and their foreign affiliates into Afghanistan. Independent sources and the US drone attacks killing many Pakistani Taliban leaders inside Afghanistan, prove this beyond doubt. So if the same groups after their relocation to Afghanistan can plan and execute attacks while sitting in Afghanistan by sending people money and arms across the border and our border security officials are either unable or unwilling to check them, then what is the need of such a grand military offensive?
If we want to have lasting peace and security in Pakistan we would have to think out-of-the-box and our strategists have to stop living in the past and accept the realities of the time and circumstances, which are fundamentally different from the yesteryears. In this regard, the management of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is of great significance and a priority. One must acknowledge that it is very difficult to secure the border as it is very long and is located in mostly inaccessible terrain. That, and the improper management of the Durand Line is a grave threat to our national security. There is no doubt that Pakistan has been facing a more critical security threat from the Afghan side as compared to the 900 kilometer long border it shares with India, as this border is mostly located in the plains and is properly managed by both the sides. Pakistani officials have been raising a hue and cry regarding arch-rival India’s usage of Afghan soil to foment unrest and stage terrorist attacks inside Pakistan. If this is the situation, then we have to think anew to further secure the western border, because Afghanistan has had long-standing irredentist claims on territories located on our side of the border.
Many measures can be taken for securing the border. This includes extensive use of computer and satellite technology for round the clock surveillance of the border. Many countries in the world have been effectively managing their borders with the use of high-tech. There is also need to increase the number of checking staff, not soldiers, as Pakistan already has 120,000 troops deployed on the Durand Line. Those checking staff must be fully trained and equipped to screen all the people entering from Afghanistan into Pakistan and then a constant track of these people must be kept. Even the crossing of so many people from Afghanistan into Pakistan is unwarranted and there is a need to limit the number of such persons. Only those with pressing trading and human needs, like healthcare, must be allowed and others must be refused entry. The most important measure in this regard is to eradicate the corruption within the security staff deployed at the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. This corruption is well-known and has been a source of easy money in our power corridors. The bosses of the security staff must be made accountable and there can be various means to do this. But for this to happen, all must think in terms of national interest rather than petty private interests. In order to curb corruption among border security officials, they must be given specials pay, perks and privileges for carrying out a very important national duty; and the better performing officials must be given awards. Last, but not least, fencing of the border must be carried out wherever possible. At least in the low laying areas inside the border, fencing is very viable. This must be done expeditiously.
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