Feb 21, 2024
Staff Report
CHAMAN:
The ongoing sit-in in Chaman has now entered its 136th day, protesting against new laws restricting travel and trade across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
The demonstrators claim that no official has reached out to them for the last three months regarding their demand for a return to the previous system of ‘Easement Right,’ which permitted border crossings based on local identification.
Addressing the participants of the sit-in, Chairman Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Mahmood Khan Achakzai said it’s the duty of our scholars and tribal chiefs to support the demands of the protesters.
On February 19, FC personnel reportedly charged the protestors with sticks and fired teargas shells in front of the passport office in Chaman in Balochistan.
They also briefly detained eight people. Locals observed a shutter down strike in the area against the FC action. Organisers of the protest claimed that FC officials burned their tents.
Balochistan’s Caretaker Information Minister Jan Achakzai said that protesters tried to take the law into their hands and blocked the passport office. He added that the police along with other law enforcement agencies arrested the accused.
Speaking to Voicepk, local leader Siddique Bilal said the government must refrain from escalating the situation towards violence, and should ensure the protesters’ right to peaceful assembly. He demanded that the old system of border crossing be reenacted so that they can resume transportation and usual business.
The decision to close down the border was taken by the National Apex Committee in October 2023, while the border crossing policy was imposed from November 1. Currently, crossing the Pak-Afghan border requires a valid passport and visa authorized by both sides; no exceptions are being made.