Afghanistan urges Pakistan to allow 'free' movement at key border crossing

KARACHI, Pakistan

Afghanistan on Tuesday urged Pakistan to allow people from both countries to "move freely" across a key border crossing in order to play a positive role in both countries' economic momentum.

Pakistan, which began a nationwide crackdown on undocumented Afghan refugees last week after a one-month deadline passed, has restricted movement on the southwestern Chaman border crossing in its Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, for those who do not have valid travel documents, including a passport with a visa.

Cross-border movement for locals on both sides was previously permitted for labor and business purposes.

"People living in Spin Boldak-Chaman region, and in general all people living across the entirety of (the) Afghanistan-Pakistan line (border) maintain deep religious, ethnic, linguistic, kinship and business ties. Despite some historic impositions, the governments have always respected afforded special rights to the people of this region," Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's interim Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In light of this "historic backdrop and ground reality," he said Pakistan is currently seeking to make passports and visas mandatory for the cross-border movement of locals.

"This decision, akin to the forced deportation of refugees, is a unilateral decision of the Pakistani government in contravention of the ground realities," he added.

Last month, the Pakistani government announced that all undocumented foreigners, primarily Afghan refugees, would be deported after the Nov. 1 deadline.

So far, according to Kabul, over 300,000 undocumented Afghan refugees have returned to their homeland.

Pakistan has been hosting a large number of Afghan refugees since the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, with nearly 2.9 million still living in the country.

According to a report by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions, which deals with Afghan refugees, more than 1.3 million Afghan refugees have Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, while over 800,000 have Afghan Citizen Cards (ACCs).

However, the report said 700,000 Afghans are living in the country without documentation.