Many Pakistanis who had gone to Afghanistan returned via the Torkham border the other day as no Pakistani citizen would be allowed to travel to Kabul without valid travel documents from January 1.
However, officials said the residents of Landikotal have been exempted from this order. They would continue to travel to Afghanistan with passport and visa as their ‘rahdari’ (permit) would remain valid for crossing the Pak-Afghan border.
The authorities at Torkham said that from January 1 onward no Pakistani citizen would be permitted to enter Afghanistan without having valid travel documents.
The Pakistani authorities on the request of the Afghan and Pakistani businessmen extended the deadline twice. A large number of Pakistanis returned from Afghanistan via Torkham on Saturday before the expiry of the deadline.
The decision was taken with the view to ensure border management and check the movement of suspected elements to improve security.Pakistan and Afghanistan share a long and porous border stretching for more than 2500 kilometres where the movement of people from both sides has remained largely unregulated.
