Prime Minister Imran Khan on 18 September 2019 formally inaugurated the opening of the Torkham border crossing for 24 hours. Imran Khan said the round-the-clock opening of the border crossing will facilitate trade in the region. “I consider this to be a very historic day,” he said, noting that trade with Afghanistan had jumped by 50 per cent during the trial of the 24/7 border opening alone. “The lives of people in this region will be changed,” he said, adding that Peshawar will become a regional hub of business activities, which will generate employment opportunities.

Comment:

There are six major crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the 2,600km-long porous border, named the Durand Line, which was established in 1893, as a result of an agreement between the British Indian Government and Amir Abdur Rahman, the then ruler of Afghanistan. Torkham is the busiest crossing point. It is the busiest port of entry between the two countries, serving as a major transporting, shipping, and receiving site. Despite the establishment of the border, the Muslims living on both sides of the line have been moving freely, almost without any documents. This unrestricted movement was not even stopped during the Afghan Jihad against Soviet Russia. However, when the US invaded Afghanistan, it realized that its occupation can only be consolidated by cutting the ties between the Muslims of Pakistan and Afghanistan, who consider this border as a mere line. So a series of bomb blasts took place in Pakistan and the political and military leadership blamed terrorists from the Afghan side, asserting that they easily slipped inside Pakistan through these border crossing points, as there is no system in place to check and regulate the entry and exit of Afghans. At times the regime in Pakistan closed these border crossing points, especially Torkham, for many days on the pretext that these points are being used by terrorists to enter Pakistan. Closure of crossing points created immense hardship for the Muslims living on both sides, as they are connected with each other through businesses and societal relations. Therefore, the regime in Pakistan created an atmosphere that helped it to build strong border posts, so that the Durand Line, which had never served as a border to divide the Muslims of this region, now became an effective border.

It is hypocrisy that whilst the Bajwa-Imran regime is making borders soft with India, by initiating the opening of Kartarpur border post under the guise of religious tourism and facilitating Sikh pilgrimages to forward the plan of “normalization” with India, it is erecting hard borders between the Muslims of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which only weakens the Muslims of this region against the Hindu aggression. Islam demands that Muslims must live as one single Ummah, unified politically, so these artificial lines established by colonialists to divide Muslims must be abolished. This can only become a reality when a Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood is established in Pakistan. That Khilafah will erase borders between the Muslims, making them a practically unified Ummah, the strongest people on earth, as they will possess strategic highways, air routes, shipping routes, energy and mineral resources, youthful population, rich and diverse agriculture and a giant military. Indeed, only the Khilafah will bring immense prosperity and security for the Muslims. Allah swt said, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلاَ تَمُوتُنَّ إِلاَّ وَأَنتُم مُّسْلِمُونَ – وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعاً وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ “And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves.” [Surah Aali-Imran 3:102-103]

Shahzad Shaikh

Deputy to the Official Spokesman of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Pakistan