New Delhi (NVI): At least three persons were killed after Pakistani troops opened fire at minority Pashtun people yesterday who were staging a sit-in at Chaman border for crossing over to Afghanistan for Eid celebrations.
The Pakistani police and military have, however, denied the firing and said that the “mob” got violent and attacked a checkpost at the Chaman border crossing.
Apart from three people killed, including a woman, 20 others were injured in the “clashes” with Pakistan security forces, reports Dawn.
However, human rights activists have claimed that the Pashtun labourers including women and children were protesting peacefully and Pakistan forces resorted to an unprovoked firing that led to the incident.
Footage of the incident was shared by several Pashtun activists, showing smoke at the border crossing.
The Pakistan newspaper reported that a large number of people gathered and staged a sit-in at Friendship Gate yesterday with the intention to cross the border.
Frontier Corps (FC) personnel asked them to move away from the gate, but they refused to do so. The FC officials told them that the gate would not be opened until shifting of the protesters from the site, the Pakistan daily reported.
The demonstrators, most of them labourers from Pashtun minority were trying to cross over to Afghanistan had gathered near the crossing, demanding authorities to lift the months-long border closure during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to witnesses, after the initial gunshots fired by Pakistani forces, the protesters were provoked and torched some structures set there by the troops.
This is new clear footage of the Pakistani army shooting at innocent Pashtun Protestors over the closure of the border between two brotherly Pashtuns in Chaman. Punjab refuses to report this. Please retweet and share. Lets expose Pakistani war crimes upon innocent Pashtuns pic.twitter.com/TwrOqmIyMC
— Amir Maseed (@AmirMaseed7) July 30, 2020
After the Chaman border incident, Pakistan also launched a heavy artillery firing in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar province in Afghanistan yesterday, in which nine people were killed while 50 others were injured.
