A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, May 6, 2017
Pakistani, Afghan troops exchange fire on border, several killed
Relatives
move a boy who was injured during border clashes between Pakistan and
Afghanistan forces on the border area, at a hospital in Chaman,
Pakistan, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai
A
man who was injured during exchange of fire between Pakistan and Afghan
forces on the border area recieves treatment after he was brought to a
hospital in Chaman, Pakistan, May 5, 2017. REUTERS/Saeed Ali Achakzai
Pakistani and Afghan troops exchanged fire for several hours on Friday
along their disputed border, officials on both sides said, as tension
between the neighbours flared into deadly violence.
Pakistan's military said a census team - guarded by troops from its
Frontier Corps (FC) - that was collecting population data in a village
near the border town of Chaman came under fire and at least one person
was killed and 18 wounded.
Zia Durani, police spokesman for Afghanistan's Kandahar province, said
Pakistani officials were using the census as a cover for "malicious
activities and to provoke villagers against the government".
"They did not heed the warning and we have clear orders to engage them,"
Durani said, adding two Afghan border police were wounded.
Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq said 40 Pakistani soldiers and
37 others were killed, including 14 Afghan border police. Reuters was
unable to confirm the figures.
Violence ceased later in the day and officials from both sides were due
to meet at the frontier, the Pakistani military said. Pakistan's foreign
ministry summoned the Afghan charge d’affaires to protest at what it
called unprovoked firing.
The Chaman crossing into Afghanistan's Kandahar province is one of two
border points. A doctor in a Chaman hospital told Reuters three people
had been killed in the fighting.
Relations between the countries have been uneasy since Pakistan's
independence in 1947. Afghanistan has traditionally enjoyed better ties
with Pakistan's rival, India.
Afghanistan has for years accused Pakistan of sheltering Afghan Taliban militants, something Pakistan denies.
Pakistan's military said Afghan border police had been "creating hurdles" since April 30 for the census team in the Chaman area.
"This was done despite the fact that Afghan authorities had been
informed well in advance and coordination was carried out through
diplomatic and military channels for conduct of the census," the
military said.
Tension has been increasing in recent months with each side accusing the
other of not doing enough to stop militants engaging in cross-border
raids.
Last year, Pakistan started building a barrier at the main border
crossing in the town of Torkham, near the Khyber Pass, angering
Afghanistan which has never formally recognised the colonial-era Durand
Line border drawn up in 1893.
(Additional reporting by Syed Raza Hassan in Karachi and Hamid Shalizi
in Kabul; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by Robert Birsel and Robin
Pomeroy)