FO rejects insinuation about fencing along Pak-Afghan border

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday rejected Afghanistan’s insinuation that the military was conducting “illegal” fencing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

“The fencing along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was being done to address Pakistan’s serious security concerns and was fully in accordance with the established norms of international law, without encroaching into Afghan territory,” spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhry said.

He was responding to news items in the Afghan media and reported statement of the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the border fencing.

The spokesperson said that the Afghan side would be well-advised to engage on border matters through the relevant institutional mechanisms to address any misconceptions. Regrettably, he added, Pakistan’s suggestion for conducting joint topographic surveys had not been positively responded to by the Afghan side.

Chaudhry reaffirmed that Pakistan respects the territorial integrity of Afghanistan and conducts its relations with the brotherly country in accordance with the principles of UN Charter and expects reciprocity from the Afghan side.