Brief pause in fighting between Pak-Afghan forces to identify, retrieve dead body at Torkham

KHYBER: Pakistan and Afghanistan border forces on Thursday agreed on a brief pause amid ongoing clashes to identify and collect a dead body lying at Zero Point at Torkham for the last few days.

However, the body, identified by Afghan authorities as a national, could not be retrieved from the location due to delayed consultation among the Afghan authorities and the time for the pause in fighting lapsing, sources told Dawn.

They said that local residents had spotted the body and reported it to the security officials, while videos and pictures of the dead body were also shared on social media.

Sources said that soon after, security officials from both countries agreed to constitute delegations of local influentials to identify and remove the dead body from the border crossing.

The Pakistan side comprised eight persons, including Malak Tajuddin, Shah Khalid, Murad Hussain, Mufti Ejaz, Saeed Khan, Qari Nazeemgul, Mulana Aaqib and Qari Jihad Shah.

From the Afghan side, the delegation comprised 11 persons, including Haji Madtyaar Shinwari, Malak Maula Khan Shinwari, Raees Gul Majeed, Malak Waali Khan, Malak Gul Rehman, Qari Baseer, Mautabar Khan, Mufti Asadullah, Darya Khan, Malak Shahzar and Malak Hilmand.

Five delegates from each side met at Zero Point after a ceasefire was instituted at around 2:30pm on Thursday, with both sides holding white flags.

Mufti Ejaz, a senior member of the Pakistani delegation, later told Dawn that although the dead person was identified as an Afghan national, the members of the Afghan side had sought time to discuss the matter with higher-ups.

He added, however, that the matter could not be resolved as the Afghan side could not return till the 5:30pm deadline for the ceasefire.

Shah Khalid, another member of the Pakistani delegation, told Dawn that they also searched for more dead bodies around Zero Point as they had information about more casualties due to the cross-firing between the border forces of both countries.

He said that no more dead bodies could be found as the delegates were running short of time.

He said that they had to return to Landi Kotal after the expiry of the ceasefire deadline, after which cross-firing between the two began again.

Ejaz, however, sounded optimistic about there being further development in the matter on Friday. He said that if the Afghan authorities refused to take the dead body on Friday, it would be brought to a local graveyard to be buried in Landi Kotal.

The development comes as Pakistan continues with Operation Ghazab lil-Haq, which was launched in late February following unprovoked firing by the Afghan Taliban from across the border.

Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul of providing space to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. UN monitoring reports over the past two years have noted the TTP’s presence in eastern Afghanistan, though the Taliban deny offering support.