ISLAMABAD: It has been decided in a meeting of the civil and military leaders that the Pak-Afghan border will remain closed until the frontier regions are purged of remnants of terrorists.
The meeting, which was convened on Friday to review the gains made thus far in newly launched Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad against terrorism, was chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ISI chief Lt Gen Naveed Mukhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, National Security Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua and other senior civil and military officials attended the huddle.
According to a government official, the meeting decided that it was not advisable to open the border in the middle of the cleansing and combing operations.
“In their briefings to the prime minister, interior minister and the security officials reportedly recommended that the border should stay closed.”
“After a detailed discussion, the participants decided to diplomatically counter Kabul’s demand for reopening the border and to resist any pressure in this regard,” said the official.
Afghanistan has been urging Pakistan government to reopen the border since it was closed on February 16, after 88 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Sehwan, Sindh.
