PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s military is pressing ahead with its plan to completelyfence the 150-kilometre-long portion of the Pak-Afghan border billed as oneof the most porous and perilous border regions in the world, according to asecurity official.
Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles are deployed at 14 differentsites on a daily basis to undertake the arduous task of fencing thePak-Afghan border — from Chitral to South Waziristan — putting in 7,000man-hours for the installation of fabricated material.
The first phase of the project is likely to be completed by the end of2018, which will see the fencing of 432km at the most critical points alongthe border.
The second phase, called “desirable”, would see the fencing of anotherstretch of 400km, the official said. The entire project, costing Rs10billion, was set to be completed in the next two years.
The fence runs along some of the most inhospitable border regions, fromsnow-capped mountains to rugged terrains to lush green valleys. “It isgoing ahead day and night,” the official said.
“The Pak-Afghan border fencing is now a reality. We have broken the myththat this border is so perilous that it cannot be fenced. This is a projectof strategic significance,” the security official said.
The fortification of the border would be augmented by border posts and anintrusion detection system, the official said. As part of the project, 150of the total 443 forts had already been constructed, some built onmountaintops as high as 12,000 feet, while 1,100 border posts had also beenestablished.
“This will serve as a strong line of defence,” the official said.
The huge undertaking has not come without human cost. Security officialssay that in two months alone — July and August — an officer and a JuniorCommissioned Officer embraced martyrdom on account of sniping from acrossthe border. Three soldiers sustained injuries.
“It is tough,” a civilian construction worker who worked at the project inMohmand tribal region said.
Wearing a helmet and bullet-proof vests, he said they would work in shiftsand round the clock to complete the job. “Invariably, we would draw firefrom across the border,” Dawar, who goes by one name.
But officials say the project is worth the human and material costsinvolved. “…The fallout of the war in Afghanistan in the last few decadesnegatively impacted us in terms of security and militancy,” the officialsaid.