Monday, June 27, 2016

Pakistan and Afghanistan are Friends, Not Foes



By Tariq Rizwan

The recent armed clashes between Afghan and Pakistani LEAs commenced due to some misunderstanding between the two sides at Torkham border (Khyber Agency) area. Now since the guns are silent, the rift proved to be a provoked act and temporary; didn’t last long. Pashtun community is living on both sides of ‘Durand Line - DL’. The community has almost common bonds supported by their tribal traditions. They cannot be separated through borders but can be strengthened through border management and smooth but legalized trade. The clashes started on Sunday, 12 June, 2016, when Pakistani side resumed construction work on the already agreed Torkham Gate as part of managing  roughly 2600 kms long porous DL and to block the entry of terrorists from across the border. Both sides held one another responsible for starting the fire. The two sides agreed on 15 June later in a meeting between Afghan Ambassador Omar Zakhilwal with Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Zubair Mehmood Hayat in Rawalpindi on de-escalation of tension followed by Afghan Foreign Office delegation’s visit to Islamabad headed by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister. In the wake of their meeting with Pakistani side in Islamabad and agreeing to sort out all border issues through bilateral talks, a relative calm was witnessed on the border. Hundreds of goods trucks carrying perishable food items remained stranded on border for days. The clashes resulted into killing of Pakistan Major Ali Jawad Changezi and four Afghan soldiers apart from dozens of other injured on both sides.

The DL agreement was signed between Amir Abdu Rehman of Afghanistan and Sir Mortimer Durand, the British Viceroy of India in 1893.  It is a single-page agreement containing seven short articles, was signed not to interfere in one anothers’ domain. Pakistan inherited the Durand Line agreement after its independence in 1947. Though Pashtuns specially on Afghan side remained reluctant to accept DL as a permanent border between the two countries as revealed by former Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently y saying that "A line of hatred that raised a wall between the two brothers". Indeed, this porous border has always served as main trade route between Islamabad and Kabul.

In 2003-4, it was for the first time that the enemies of Pakistan and Afghanistan tried to exploit the situation that DL agreement has already completed 100 years and became an obsolete one. However, the created misperception among the Afghans was cleared once for all when the original copy, where there is no mention of hundred years, was shown to them. The recent clash seemed to be an attempt to dispute the issue again, while sensitivity of time when both sides are engaged in readjustments and managing border movements on DL in Angor Adda (South Waziristan) and Torkham border (Khyber Agency) areas. It was reported that Afghan side received necessary information and guidelines from the Indian Embassies in Kabul and Islamabad to tackle the issue. Hence, it is sure hundred percent and plus that it was a provoked act on Afghan side to dispute DL and use it as tactic to reunite Afghan nation at the cost of Pak - Afghan friendship and Pashtuns unity. More importantly, the enemy was aimed to destabilize the region and delay ground work on CPEC.

Pakistani Foreign Office and Defence Minister Khwaja Asif while briefing National Assembly session on 14 June played down the recent skirmishes as war rather termed it as ‘instigated by enemies’. It was urged to improve border management and control on Pak-Afghan border after mutual understanding with Kabul. Khwaja Asif said “We have no dispute with Afghanistan. The enemies of Pakistan do not want it to progress neither do they want it to live in peace with Afghanistan and they are playing an effective role in doing just that.”

Foreign Policy adviser, Mr Sartaj Aziz also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to complete construction of a transit terminal at the Torkham border, terming it a part of the plan to “strengthen border control and regulate cross-border movements”. He said the border gate is being constructed 37 metres inside the Pakistani border as per international law.

Relations between the two countries have been subject to various complexities over the past few decades. Misunderstanding between the two sides on issues like DL, former MujahideenAfghan refugeesTaliban, water disputes, trade and it all resulted into Kabul’s tilt towards India. Afghanistan was the first country to oppose Pakistan’s membership in UN and instigated conspiracies like Pashtunistan issues and harbor terrorist groups like Al Zulfiqar and Baloch Liberation Army. Likewise Kabul has been accusing Islamabad of aiding the former Mujahideen and Taliban groups. Pakistan and Afghanistan enjoy tremendous geo strategic importance being a gateway to Central Asia and China linking both to the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and oil rich Middle East. Both are working together to find amicable solution to the issues.  Southern and eastern Afghanistan is predominately a Pashto-speaking region. This entire area is inhabited by the indigenous Pashtuns who belong to different Pashtun tribes and clans living on both sides of the ‘Durand Line’. Pashtuns were known historically as ethnic Afghans (and as Pathans in southern Asia) and have lived in this region for thousands of years, since at least the 1st millennium BC.

Indeed, the last one decade ushered an era of cooperation and understanding between the two sides which is pre requisite for the development of the region. In July 2010, a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) was reached between Pakistan and Afghanistan for the APTTA, observed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The two states also signed an MoU for the construction of rail tracks in Afghanistan to connect with Pakistan Railways (PR), which has been in the making. In October 2010, the landmark APTTA agreement was signed by Pakistani Commerce Minister and Afghan Ministry of Commerce. The ceremony was attended by Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and a number of foreign ambassadors, Afghan parliamentarians and senior officials. The APTTA allows Afghan trucks to drive from Pakistani Ports to Kabul via Wagah border with India
In November 2010, the two states formed a joint chamber of commerce to expand trade relations and solve the traders’ problems. In July 2012, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to extend APTTA to Tajikistan in what will be the first step for the establishment of a North-South trade corridor, linking Tajikistan to Pakistani ports. 

It is an open secret, that as an economic corridor, Pakistan is not acceptable to the expansionist India. India is determined to divert the trade corridor towards Iran as she has already invested heavily in Chabahar Port and Zaranj - Dilaram road network linking Iran to Central Asia via Afghanistan. But the efforts are stalled by instability in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is still 80% dependent on Pakistan, economically. India’s some projects specially construction of Dams on Kabul river are aimed to block the flow of water towards Pakistan. Moreover, several unannounced Indian consulates are operating in Afghan cities along Pakistani border without any plausible business links with the locals. It, coupled by the apprehension of RAW agent Kalbhushan Yadav from Baluchistan, has raised eyes brow of everyone what Indian presence in Afghanistan is aimed at. It is only to destabilize Pakistan’s western belt as well as undermine CPEC.
Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have suffered a lot over the last four decades. Now it is time to behave like friends not foes. We have to keep its eyes open, understand the conspiracies of India and its devil game in the region. The issue of construction of dams on River Kabul should not be aimed to divert and block water flow downside in Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan’s initiative of managing the DL must be taken positively as it is in favour of both to counter the terrorism in the area. We are neighbors and live peacefully. We have to manage our problems bilaterally as neighbors can never afford to live under the dictates of regional and extra regional powers. Both Kabul and Tehran can also be evolved into CPEC to make it a success. This is the only way to stop US and India to exploit Pak - Afghan fragile relations to their tune under the new US policy shift to use India as policeman against and contain China.

The writer is a freelance journalist


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