IN June 2016, the announcement by Pakistani security forces to implement the ‘Torkham Border Management’ (TBM) was shocking for many, especially those living in the areas adjacent to the border.

Even so, many viewed it as an impossibility; short-lived but with an immediate impact on trade and local businesses.

In its wake, noted private hospitals in Peshawar received a trickle of Afghan patients due to visa restrictions, while traders, students, teachers, artists, musicians and even relatives on either side had to say their last words.

When Islamabad floated the idea of fencing the borders a few years ago with the obvious aim of checking the movement of militants across the porous border, Kabul resisted strongly and remains sceptical.

However, according to security officials posted at Torkham, due to fencing and the TBM, not a single ‘terrorist’ has crossed the Pakistan-Afghanistan border since 2016 as the crossing has become a completely computerised process.

Local residents — Afghans that are permitted to cross the border daily — have been issued computerised cards. Around 2,500 to 3,000 local residents living on both sides involved in the daily crossing at the Torkham border have been granted a year-long Route Permit by Pakistani officials.

The project of fencing and TBM bore fruitful results in terms of improved security, trade and the regulated movement of people. Everyone seems fully satisfied with the process, which they say is smooth, transparent and easy.

“The Torkham border is no longer a free-for-all crossing-point, and we hope the situation is headed towards normality,” says a security official. “Illegal trade is impossible now. Business activities are being restored, and local residents enjoy full freedom.”

“Not a single terrorist has crossed the Torkham border since the launch of TBM in 2016,” says another security official here. “During this period, no sample of any terror activity’s perpetrator has been matched or detected with those crossing the border. The security situation has been improved by 90 per cent.”

He says the figure of people crossing the Torkham border daily with valid travelling documents has increased over the time, as they are now aware that the move has been in their favour.

Local residents, though, say that the change was sudden and painful. About 5,000 stores and kiosks located in the Torkham border town were shut down and a large number of people related to various businesses were rendered jobless; many others shifted their firms to down-country areas.

Traditionally, around 15,000 people used to cross the Torkham border on a daily basis without valid travelling documents; only about 1,500 would carry legal documents. It was unthinkable that the huge iron gate of Torkham would ever be closed except for the occasional brief closure. Yet the growing violence in Pakistan made it imperative for security agencies to use the option of fencing, and the strict implementation of visa restrictions through TBM.

Saida Gul, an Afghan trader, says that it was unbelievable for him and his colleagues that they could not cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border without passports.

Since most Afghans would cross the Torkham border without any documents, most would come up with complaints of being allegedly fleeced by the Khasadar forces or even the Peshawar police.

“Whenever I had to visit Peshawar in connection with my trade, I would put aside between Rs4,000 and Rs5,000 to be given as graft to personnel at check-posts and policemen,” Mr Gul says. “To avoid this, I decided to carry valid travelling documents. Now I cross the Torkham border without any fear or trouble.”

Retired Brig Mahmood Shah, formerly in charge of security in Fata, recalls that in fact he had suggested to retired Lt Gen Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, then governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to launch a border fencing programme and the TBM.

“I am pleased that the idea worked and I still suggest that the fencing and border management measures should be extended to the entire Durand Line,” he says. “Kabul should also cooperate with Islamabad and take similar steps to improve the security situation.”

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2018