ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa inaugurated work on border fencing along the Balochistan portion of Pak-Afghan border at Panjpai, on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Balochistan Abdul Qadoos Bazinjo and interior minister Sarfraz Bugti were also at the inauguration.
Pakistan and Afghanistan share a border of nearly 2,600 kilometers. In the middle of last year, Pakistan began to build fences along its porous border with Afghanistan to stop illegal cross border movement, particularly by militants, and to enable effective monitoring of the border.
In first phase, fences were erected in the Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber tribal regions and now the work has started in Pakistan’s Southwestern province of Balochistan.
General Bajwa thanked tribal leaders and locals for their support in maintaining security.
“The fencing will check cross border movement of terrorists,” General Bajwa said, adding: “Special arrangements have been made to facilitate bilateral economic activity and legal movement in any way or form through designated crossing points.”
During the visit to Balochistan, Gen Bajwa also inaugurated the Quetta Safe City Project in the province capital city, after a five-year delay to the work going ahead.
General also interacted with Quetta university students. He said that Pakistan has rejected terrorism and has achieved greater peace after great sacrifices by Armed Forces, which had been backed by the whole nation.
“Some elements are trying to influence the minds of our youth at this stage to create anarchy and dissatisfaction in the society,” General Bajwa said.
He added: “It is for everyone to ensure that they abide by law of the land and remain within the bounds of constitution.”
Military chief inaugurates Pak-Afghan border fencing in Balochistan
Military chief inaugurates Pak-Afghan border fencing in Balochistan
- General Qamar Javed Bajwa said the fencing will check cross-border movement of terrorists
- He highlighted special arrangements made to facilitate bilateral economic activity and legal movement
UK warship to leave for Cyprus next week: officials
- HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defense destroyer, will sail to aid Britain’s “defensive operations”
- Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources
LONDON: A UK warship due to be sent to Cyprus amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran will not set sail from Britain until next week, Western officials said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that he was deploying HMS Dragon, a Type 45 defense destroyer to aid Britain’s “defensive operations” in the region.
Starmer also said he was sending two Wildcat helicopters with counter-drone capabilities.
The announcement came after several drone attacks from Iran targeted UK allies in the Middle East and after the UK Royal Air Force base Akrotiri was struck overnight Sunday to Monday.
Opposition lawmakers have accused the government of being too slow to deploy additional resources after the war started on Saturday with no British warship in the region.
The destroyer is being resupplied with ammunition and will sail next week, the officials told reporters in London.
“We’ve had to change weapon systems on it, finish welding, get it up and running, and get it sailing as fast as possible,” Defense Minister Al Carns told Sky News.
Its voyage to the eastern Mediterranean is expected to take several days.
Starmer refused to allow the Americans to use UK air bases to launch the initial strikes on Iran on Saturday.
He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases — one in southwest England and the other in the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean — for a “specific and limited defensive purpose.”
The officials said Wednesday that US bombers have not yet used those bases to launch missions but they are expected to do so in the coming days.
They also said that the drone, which caused little damage and no casualties when it hit the runway at Akrotiri, had not been launched from Iran.
A Cypriot government source said Monday that the drones had been launched from Lebanon, “most likely” by Hezbollah, a historical ally of Iran in the Middle East.
