Always
considered as the sour most sign of the cold war, the Berlin Wall
was erected by erstwhile German Democratic Republic in 1961. The
wall had managed to completely cut off West Berlin from East Berlin
as well as surrounding East Germany. A modern Avatar of the Berlin
wall in form of a trench, has come up in Baluchistan province of
Pakistan, across its international border with Afghanistan. The 485
mile long trench, reminiscent of the medieval times, has been dug at
a cost of US $2.5 Million and was finished on November 16, 2014,
along the 2,640-kilometer Durand Line, named for British diplomat
Mortimer Durand, who drew the now internationally recognised border
in an agreement with Afghan ruler Abdur Raham Khan in 1893. After the
British left and India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947,
Pakistan has regarded the Durand Line as an official border with
Afghanistan, though successive Afghan governments have refused to
recognize it.
The
massive trench, which looks like a complete eye sour, is about 10
feet wide 8 feet deep. Some sections of the trench have been topped
with barbed wire, and more wiring will be installed later. Excavation
for the project had began in mid-September 2014. Pakistani troops
have started patrolling along the trench. It is a part of Pakistan's
strategy to counter terrorism and prevent foreign militants from
infiltrating the country via the province
Pakistan's
Frontier Corps say that the trench would not only help in effectively
controlling the movement of drug and arms and ammunition smugglers,
but also will help in stopping the intrusion of terrorists and
illegal immigrants. They fear that the arms that are smuggled reach
any number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban.
However,
there is heavy opposition to the trench from Afghans, who have never
really accepted the Durand line as true international boundary. Even
the tribal communities that straddle the boundary areas have not
accepted it. Afghans feel that this trench is simply to draw a border
with Afghanistan and claim our land as their own. They feel that the
trench is a latest move in new incarnation of the British era
Great Game, in which Pakistan hopes to destabilise its neighbor to
extend its regional influence.
Afghanistan-Baluchistan
border has been completely porous with people freely moving across
it. They always took the freedom of movement across the Durand Line
for granted. Ethnic Pashtuns who live in the area, cross the line
without visas, and do not consider the Durand Line an official
border. Some of them live on one side of the border, whereas there
lands are on the other side of the boundary. The trench has raised
the anger of the local residents too. Pashtun populations on both
sides of the border worry about the cultural and economic effects the
trench will have on their tight-knit communities.
Former
Afghan Tribal and Border Affairs Minister Akram Akhbelwak says that
Afghans do not see the trench as a counter terrorism measure, but as
an affront and feel that it would be never acceptable by the
Afghans. He says that the trench and the tribal border are
completely illegal. Such actions on the border are creating problems
among the tribes and will never be a solution to the problems between
the two countries. Local tribal people see the trench as something
that is artificial, dividing families and crippling trade besides it
is adding to simmering tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Whatever
Pakistani say, the Baluchistan trench is likely to prove as unpopular
amongst Afghan Pashtuns as the Berlin wall was with Germans.
12th
December 2014
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