KABUL: A Pashtun leader Mahamood Khan Achakzai has said that he would not allow anyone to harass Afghan refugees in their “own land”. He directly said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province belongs to Afghans and they can live there without fear and irritation.

“If Afghans are harassed in other parts of Pakistan, they should come here to the Pakhtunkhwa province, where no one can ask them for refugee cards, because it also belongs to them,” Achakzai who leads the Pakhtunkhwa Millie Awami Party said.

“Kabul and Islamabad should exercise extreme caution to resolve Torkham crossing conflict. Otherwise, they should leave the issue to the US and China, and they would resolve it within two weeks,” he told Radio Ashna.

Pakistan paramilitary forces attempted to build a gate in the zero point of the crossing, that resulted in fight between Afghan and Pakistan forces. Both sides received casualties during fighting.

“Torkham and forcedly repatriation of Afghan refugees are two separate issues. It not only raised concerns among Afghan officials in Afghanistan, but also made Pashtun leaders concerned in here,” he added.

After Torkham tension raised, Pakistan forced the Afghan refugees to leave the country.

Putting pressure on Afghan refugees is not a new thing as in the past Pakistan was also hostile to refugees, where a large number of Afghan refugees returned home to avoid Pakistan forces harassment.

Moreover, Afghan refugees were detained and kept in custody for several days without committing crimes.