Sabawoon Samim - THE DURAND LINE AND THE FENCE: - How are communities managing

The first quarrel dates back to 1947 when newly-created Pakistan was set to join the United Nations as an independent state and Afghanistan voted against its membership.6 However, long before the creation of Pakistan, the discussion over the future of the Tribal Agencies, the administrative units that include much of the territory on the other side of the Durand Line, had been going on in Pashtun. [...] Similarly, the tribes of Dzadran, Gurbaz, Mangal and Turi live in various districts of Khost and Paktia provinces of Afghanistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s North Waziristan and Kurram districts.8 Members of the Wazir tribe live in Barmal district of Paktika and across the Line in South and North Waziristan of Pakistan, while members of the Muqbal and Dzazi tribes live in Paktia’s border district of. [...] But when the fence reached the village, Pakistani security forces pointed to an area in the middle of the village and said: Up to this point, the village belongs to Pakistan and they would establish the fence there. [...] 19 The Durand Line and the Fence: How are communities managing with cross-border lives? DAMAGE TO THE ECONOMY Apart from the harm done to family ties, restrictions on the Durand Line have also significantly hurt trade and the local economy. [...] During the 1980s and the war with the Soviets and later during the Taleban insurgency against the US, smugglers used 20 The Durand Line and the Fence: How are communities managing with cross-border lives? to traffic military vehicles, copper, and weapons as well as goods and livestock such as wheat and sheep.