JALALABAD (PAN): Governor Gul Agha Sherzai could be referred to the Attorney-General Office (AGO) for failing to prevent the construction of border gates by Pakistani forces in the Goshta district of eastern Nangarhar province, a legislator hinted on Monday.
While accusing the provincial administration of negligence, residents of the district say the Pakistani military have erected security gates in Goshta. The border spat has sparked protests in Afghanistan and further deteriorated the already strained relations between the neighbours.
A delegation, led by Wolesi Jirga Defence Commission head Mohammad Hamayun and including public representatives from Nangarhar, visited the site late on Sunday. They examined the Pakistan military posts that are allegedly located on Afghanistan’s soil.
In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Hamayun claimed the Pakistan Army had built the gates inside Afghanistan. He took a dig at the global fraternity, especially the US, for staying silent on the issue.
The parliamentary panel chief also blasted Governor Sherzai for his inability to initiate timely action to stop the unilateral constructions. “We will summon him to the Wolesi Jirga. If he fails to satisfy us, we will refer him to the AGO,” he warned.
A parliamentarian from Nangarhar and former border police commander in the east, Haji Qadeer, told reporters that Pakistani forces had also asphalted a large portion of a road across the gate, which might be used as a future border crossing.
Meanwhile, the governor rejected the negligence allegations as unfounded. He insisted he had informed the central government well in time about the constructions.
“Pakistan wants to enforce the British-era Durand Line. On the other hand, Afghanistan has a map of the Russian time, which locates the border much behind where it is,” Sherzai told journalists at his office.
On Sunday, President Hamid Karzai wrote a letter to his US counterpart Barack Obama, seeking America's help in retaking nearly a dozen border posts that were captured by Pakistani forces in Nangarhar province a decade ago.
Citing reports compiled by Afghan officials who had been tasked with investigating Pakistan forces' advancement, Karzai wrote the issue was sensitive because US troops had been involved in paving the ground for the Pakistanis to capture the posts in Goshta.