Islamabad, Oct 22: Pakistan has started fortifying its long border with Afghanistan with fences and checkpoints to prevent al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives from sneaking in, a military spokesman said today. New light towers and checkpoints were being erected along the barren western frontier around the town of Chaman, a main border crossing, about 750 kilometres southwest of the capital, Islamabad, to stop afghan insurgents from reaching Pakistan, said Gen. Shaukat Sultan.
The traffic back and forth across the sparsely inhabited border region has been a source of contention between Pakistan and the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai.
Karzai has accused the Pakistanis of sheltering fighters of the ousted Taliban regime and members of al-Qaida.
Pakistan denies knowingly giving safe haven to Afghan insurgents.
But the border area is the home of deeply conservative tribes who share the culture and tribal view of Islam imposed by the Taliban during their five-year rule of Afghanistan.
Pakistan says it is doing whatever possible to stop rebels from using its soil against Afghanistan's fledging government.
Afghanistan's state-run television yesterday reported that Pakistan was constructing a 40-kilometre-long wall along the Afghan border without seeking permission from Karzai's government.
Sultan said the report was inaccurate, and Pakistan was constructing no such wall. "We are only fencing our border to fight terrorism," he told.
Bureau Report