Kamal Matinuddin

The Afghan militia has once again fired on a Pakistani post on the Afghan-Pakistan border in the Mohmand Agency. Although no loss of life has been reported but it does highlight the fact that the international frontier is being violated with impunity by the Afghan forces. It is due both to the lingering bitterness of the Panjsheris against Pakistan for supporting the Taliban in their fight against the Northern Alliance and the fact that the boundary in some areas is not properly demarcated. Both claim certain hilltops as falling in their own areas.

The Durand Line was accepted as the frontier of Afghanistan and British India by Amir Abdur Rahman of Afghanistan, in accordance with an agreement signed by him and Sir Mortimer Durand on November 12, 1893. The British consequently raised Amir Abdur Rahman’s subsidy from Rupees twelve lacs annually to eighteen lacs. The Durand Line was later ratified by Amir Habibullah in 1905 and by King Amanullah in 1919.

It is not true to say that the Line was drawn arbitrarily, with no regard to ethnic tribes living astride it. Olaf Caroe in his well-researched book The Pathans disproves this by saying that those Pushtun tribes who habitually traded with Kohat and Peshawar were placed east of the Durand Line in keeping with traditional links. However, one cannot deny the fat that many tribes were divided. The Achakzais of Quetta, the Waziris of Wazirisatan, the Toris and Mengals of Parachinar; the Shinwaris of Khyber and the Mohmand of the Mohmand Agency have cousins still living in Afghanistan. To them the Durand Line is not an effective barrier to meeting their relatives across the border. Except for the Afridis and the Mahsuds almost all the Afghan tribes have affiliations with their kith and kin in Pakistan. Consequently they come to each other’s help whenever the need arises, regardless of the international border, which to them, nominally divides the two Muslim neighbours.

The Government of India had appointed a Commission to demarcate the Mohmand Bajaur Agency boundary in 1894. According to Azmat Hayat, the Director of the Asia Study Centre for Central Asia the “Amir had shown an opposition to it as he asserted that the Mohmand country actually belonged to Afghanistan and any division would cause ignominy to the Afghans and would result in a heaviness of heart. After some persuasion and threat the Amir agreed to the boundary demarcation proposed by the Viceroy. Accordingly except for some villages of the Baezai and Khwaezai sections of the Mohmands the remaining were placed on the British side of the boundary.” Both agreed that neither of the two governments would interfere in each other’s territories lying beyond the Durand Line. In some sections the line has not been demarcated on the ground. This is the case in the Mohmand territory.

Un-interrupted movement across the Durand Line in both directions has been the norm for centuries. Afghans crossed into Pakistan in large numbers to come to the assistance of the Kashmiris who had revolted against the Hindu Maharaja in 1947. Afghans pawandas (nomads) known as kochis moved freely between Pakistan and Afghanistan for decades. Million of Afghan refugees came across seeking shelter during the Soviet occupation of their country.

A drawback of the Afghan Jihad against the Soviet Union was that the Durand Line lost its sanctity, as those fighting against the Soviets crossed the border at will. Afghan Mujahideen including many Pakistanis from the tribal areas moved freely into Afghanistan and back. Pakistan did not try to enforce the sanctity of the Durand Line as the Afghan Mujahideen, who were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, were based in Pakistan. When a question was put to one of the Mujahideen leaders at the Institute of Strategic Studies, which used to carry out a briefing on the events in Afghanistan those days, he replied that there is no border between Muslim states.

It is true that Afghanistan and Pakistan are neighbouring Muslim countries and the people on both sides of the Durand Line have religious, ethnic and historical ties. One cannot deny the fact that the Quaid-i-Azam did withdraw all troops from the tribal belt indicating that he would like to have the best of relations with Kabul. It is also correct to point out that Afghanistan did not create any threat to Pakistan during our wars with India. But neither did Iran. In fact we had an Iran-Pakistan Military Cooperation Agreement under which Iran was to provide an armoured division to Pakistan in the eventuality of an attack on Pakistan by India and Pakistan was to provide an armoured brigade to

Iran if Iraq threatened Iran. But this agreement did not mean that the Iran-Pakistan border was not given any sanctity.

The bitter relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are not temporary in nature. They have been there right from the time of independence till today, except perhaps during the short-lived Taliban regime, which created some other problems for Pakistan.

Zahir Shah wrote a letter to the British government in 1946 that the Pushtuns should also be given the right of independence in addition to joining India or Pakistan. It was the only country, which cast a negative vote when the question of Pakistan’s membership of the United Nations came up for consideration. It raised the Pushtunistan issue and claimed the territory up to the Attock bridge as its territory. In 1973 Afghanistan created an insurgency in Balochistan. It has to its credit the burning of the Pakistan flag on four occasions.

Despite these irritants there are some who advocate that the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan should be a soft border and movement across it should be acceptable. Soft borders are not a new concept as Europeans neighbours can cross frontiers in Europe without the hassle of obtaining visas.

But when there is mistrust and suspicion, movement of personnel without any documents and checks would be harmful for the country’s security. Smugglers would have a field day. Bara markets would be established in all cities of Pakistan. Industries in Pakistan would suffer. Cars stolen in Pakistan would not only be found in the Tribal Areas but would be moving around on Kabul streets. Kidnappers would seek shelter in each other’s country and demand heavy ransoms. No check on proliferation of weapons would be possible. The present action to arrests terrorists would be made even more difficult.

Already the Karzai administration blames Pakistan for not stopping the anti-Karzai elements from taking shelter in Pakistan and for operating from Pakistan soil. Opening the border would make it easier for those opposed to the present regime in Afghanistan to move into Pakistan and operate from here. To prevent this from happening the sanctity of the Durand Line must be strictly observed.

Without turning the frontier into a soft border Pakistan should have good relations with any government in Afghanistan. We should allow transit of goods for Afghanistan with as small a negative list as possible. Build the road from Torkham to Jalalabad and from Chaman to Kandahar. The proposal of a railway line from Chaman to Kandahar can be studied seriously. Pakistan can provide training facilities to Afghan doctors and engineers and increase commercial relations. The Al Shifa Eye Hospital can open free camps in Jalalabad and Kabul, if the law and order situation improves. We have an advantage over India because of our geographical proximity. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan can have a trouble free relationship, provided each of them observes the sanctity of the Durand Line.

People living in the tribal areas should be brought into the mainstream. These neglected areas of Pakistan need to be developed. Schools, roads, hospitals, wells and electricity should be provided so that the tribes living in these remote villages look towards Pakistan for their needs and not cooperate with those living across the Durand Line.