Rockets fired at Dangam district, Kunar, may not be the last attack by Pakistan. The attack has not stopped for a month. Two children have been killed, so far. The Afghan government remains silent.
Rockets fired at Dangam district, Kunar, may not be the last attack by Pakistan. The attack has not stopped for a month. Two children have been killed, so far. The Afghan government remains silent.On May 20, one civilian was killed in an unprovoked attack on the border in Dangam district. At least 20 terrified families were reported to have fled the area. The firing has not stopped: the exodus has become a flood.
The Afghan government has chosen not to retaliate much to the dismay of people and parliament.
Saborullah who is among the displaced, told Killid, “I as a citizen demand the government must safeguard me.” He said people are worried the government has not taken a “serious view” of the firing from across the border. “We are worried about the future,” he added.
Rocket attacks in the border areas have claimed lives – two children have died in the last month – and destroyed property in Kunar. The local government has repeatedly complained to the Hamid Karzai government.
Governor of Kunar, Sayed Fazlullah Wahidi, told Killid in a phone interview the rocket attacks have not stopped for a month. “It is not known if they have taken place because of the war between Pakistani security forces and their armed opponents, or the targeting of Afghanistan is intentional.”
Afghan border security forces say off the record the firing on the border is “intentional”. An official who did not want to be named, said, “A round of rocket firing which started on June 4 in some border areas is still going on.”
Traumatised civilians
Hajji Mia Hassan Adel, the head of the provincial council, said at least two civilians have been killed, and 1,500 families traumatised by the unrelenting pounding of homes and property.
“We request the government to tell us how it plans to protect its people. We give votes to leaders in order to ensure we will be safe,” he asserted.
In parliament representatives of Kunar have demanded the government should act. Wazhma Safi told her counterparts in parliament, “Once again Pakistan has carried out rocket attacks on Dangam district. Two children have been killed, and four injured … I want special attention of the government and national assembly in this regard because our government always ignores the attacks of Pakistan.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence has maintained silence on the issue. The Ministry of Interior Affairs has confirmed the attacks. Its spokesman, Sidiq Sidiqi, said, “They (security forces) try to prevent the attacks.”
He said the ministry has urged the authorities to call for an immediate halt to the attacks and solve the issue through mutual negotiations. “The issue also needs serious investigations,” he said.
No comment
Officials in Pakistan have not commented on the reports from Afghanistan about the unprovoked firing on Dangam district. Questions like why the attacks have been carried out and what is their motive remain unanswered.
Afghan experts point to a pattern in the attacks mounted across the border. The firing, they say, coincides with periods when Pakistan’s interests are threatened. Pakistan-watcher, Mohammad Noori, who thinks the attacks may be led by Pakistani rebels on the border or in Pakistan, says, “The aim is to create insecurity in the border and tension between two countries … in order to reap economic and political benefits.”
He also thinks it is possible Pakistan’s military intelligence, ISI, may be involved. “ISI may be involved in the issue as intelligence forces of Pakistan have two aims in creating insecurity in Afghanistan: they want to show how important Pakistan is for the creation of stability in Afghanistan; and, they want to reduce Afghanistan’s dependence on its western allies, particularly the US and UK, whose relations with Pakistan have become very strained.”
Eshaq Fayaz, a political analyst, shares Noori’s view. He is emphatic, “The Pakistani and Afghan Taleban are in fear after the signing of the US-Afghan strategic treaty. In order to destabilise the situation they have resorted to the blind rocket attacks.”
Lengthening shadow
He agrees the agreement is yet only on paper “but the fact is if it is implemented, it seriously threatens the movement of Taleban and al Qaeda over the border. Therefore the extremists are showing their serious hostility to the agreement.”
On June 11, the US called off six weeks of talks with Pakistan to reopen supply routes for international military forces in Afghanistan after the negotiations made little headway.
Noorulhaq Olumi, a former MP and military expert, shares strong views. He observed the rocket attacks were not the only issue straining relations with Pakistan. The continuing blockade of the border has held up even supplies of schoolbooks for Afghan children, he said, urging the government to “take precautionary action, and take the help of NATO to repel the open interference of Pakistan.”
Experts warn: If the attacks are not prevented, Pakistan’s shadow on Afghanistan may only increase in the months after the US-NATO pullout in 2014.
