PM orders to keep Torkham border crossing open ‘round the clock’

Security officials and bystanders look on as a loaded truck passes through Torkham border. (AN photo)

Men coming from Afghanistan move down a corridor between security fences at the border post in Torkham. (REUTERS/File)

Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Atif Mashal visited Torkham and met with officials on Jan. 16, 2019. (Photo courtesy: Afghanistan’s Embassy in Islamabad)

• Step will be instrumental in boosting bilateral trade, says the premier
• Torkham is a major border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered to keep the main border crossing with Afghanistan at Torkham open ‘round the clock.’
“I have tasked the relevant govt stakeholders to make necessary arrangements for the Torkhum border to work round the clock within next 6 months,” the PM stated in a tweet Monday night.

Khan hoped in his message that “this step will be instrumental in boosting bilateral trade & enhancing people to people contacts between the two brotherly countries.”
Torkham is a major border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, at Khyber tribal district, located along the international border between the two countries.
On January 16 this year, Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Atif Mashal visited Torkham and requested Pakistani authorities to increase the passport entry windows.
The Ambassador also “demanded facilitation to ladies, patients & elders at the crossing point,” the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad said in tweet after Ambassador Mashal’s visit to Torkham.