Chaman border closed due to security concerns: Sheikh Rasheed

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed confirmed reports that the Chaman border with Afghanistan had been closed for a short period of time due to security concerns.

The minister held a news conference where he said Prime Minister Imran Khan had entrusted the interior ministry to him after taking note of the Afghanistan situation.

“We want peace and stability in Afghanistan. We have put up a fence on the border,” said Rasheed. He said the situation at Torkham border was normal.

He announced that due to some security concerns, the Chaman border was being closed temporarily.

The minister spoke about the American soldiers who arrived in Pakistan, saying that they had left and not a single person among them was in the country.

He said of the 10,000 people who arrived from Afghanistan in Pakistan, 9,000 had left and not one remained behind.

Rasheed said Pakistan’s role in the region was emerging. However, hse said Pakistan will not spread chaos.

The nation is proud of the Pakistan Army, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI), Rashid remarked.

“India is currently mourning the situation in Afghanistan, and the politics of the Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) is over,” he maintained.

In response to a questione about PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif’s suggestion of a national government, he rejected it. The minister said the government was ready for a national reconciliation but not a national government.

“There is a difference between national reconciliation and a national government; we are ready for national reconciliation,” he said.

Rasheed urged opposition parties to take the country forward with the governnment, adding that the time was a sensitive one hence one should refrain from agitating in Pakistan.

“The opposition should march with enthusiasm. The government will take steps within its jurisdiction,” he said.