Pakistani clerics' delegation to visit Afghanistan for dialogue over cross border hostility

A delegation of Pakistani clerics will travel to Afghanistan this week to hold talks with Afghan officials to end the cross-border hostility in southwestern Chaman border region, authorities said on Sunday.

The four-member delegation will hold meetings with officials from the Afghan ministry of defence and key Taliban leaders in Kandahar and Kabul, the Chaman district administration was quoted as saying by The News International newspaper.

They added that the Pak-Afghan border security forces' flag meeting has been postponed upon the departure of the delegation.

Pakistan on Friday summoned the Afghan charge d'affaires here to condemn the recent incidents of “unprovoked” cross-border shelling by Afghan troops near the Chaman border crossing that have escalated tensions between Islamabad and Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

At least one person was killed and 11 others were wounded on Thursday when Afghan Taliban forces fired mortars toward civilians in the Chaman-Spin Boldak area in the restive Balochistan Province.

The latest violence follows a series of deadly incidents and attacks that have strained relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban rulers in recent months. Thursday's violence was the second incident of firing in less than a week after a similar attack on December 10 had killed seven civilians.

Earlier this month, Pakistan's Embassy in Kabul came under gunfire in an attack that was later claimed by the Islamic State group. Pakistani officials at the time had called the incident an attack on its envoy there. Islamabad also has said Afghanistan's rulers are sheltering militants who carry out deadly attacks on its soil.

Pakistan and Afghanistan share a 2,600-km volatile border.

Chaman remains a busy border trading area for Pakistan and Afghanistan and has also been a flashpoint for clashes between border forces on both sides.

The Chaman border crossing, also known as the Friendship Gate, connects Balochistan province to Afghanistan's Kandahar. It was closed last month after an armed Afghan crossed onto Pakistan's side of the border and opened fire on security troops, killing a soldier and injuring another two.

Islamabad has completed almost 90 per cent of fencing work along the border despite protests from Kabul, who contested the century-old British-era boundary demarcation that splits families on either side.

Successive regimes in Afghanistan, including the US-backed governments in the past, have disputed the border and this has historically remained a contentious issue between the two neighbours.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)