Pak-Afghan border tension: 16-member delegation leaves for Afghanistan

PESHAWAR: A 16-member delegation comprising clerics and local elders left for Afghanistan to negotiate with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) leadership in a bid to defuse tension at Pak-Afghan border, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to details, a 16-member delegation – comprising clerics, local elders and trades – left for Afghanistan to negotiate with TTP leadership following a terrorist attack on the Counter-Terrorism Department’s (CTD) compound in Bannu.

Speaking to media before leaving the country, local leader Malik Abdul Khaliq Achakzai said that the delegation will hold meetings with other top officials, including Kandahar Governor Muhammad Yusuf Wafa, and will push for de-escalation of border tensions.

Following the contacts and negotiations, the ongoing tension would be defused, hoped Malik Abdul. The delegation does not include anyone from the district administration.

It is pertinent to mention here that dozens of terrorists, who stormed an office of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) in Bannu city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), seek safe exit to Afghanistan via airway.

Despite the passage of more than 17 hours, the terrorists are still present in the CTD office Bannu, while the body of the policeman, martyred in the gun battle with the outlaws has been shifted to police lines.

The terrorists were demanding safe airlift to Afghanistan from the Pakistani authorities, the sources claimed.

Earlier on Saturday night, terrorists launched an attack on Bargi police station in the KP’s Lakki Marwat district. Four police officials were martyred and four got injured in the terrorist attack.

The terrorists used rocket launchers and hand grenades to target the police station in Lakki Marwat.