Lull in Pakistani rocket fire enters 3rd week

ASDADABAD (Pajhwok): A lull in Pakistani rocket attacks into eastern Kunar province has entered a third week, local officials said on Saturday.

Pakistani forces have been firing rockets and mortars into various districts of Kunar over the past three years.

So far dozens of residents have been killed and maimed and hundreds others displaced due to the aggression.

Several forest areas and farm fields have been destroyed as a result of the attacks blamed on Pakistani security forces.

However, the attacks have stopped about three weeks ago, when President Ashraf Ghani had been planning to visit the neighbouring country.

Kunar police chief Brig. Gen. Abdul Habib Syedkhel told Pajhwok Afghan News that Pakistani forces had ceased firing rockets into Kunar over the past three weeks.

“We have no information why they have stopped firing rockets. The Pakistanis can answer better why they have been firing and why did they stop,” he said.

A resident of Shegal district, Khalil Rahman, told Pajhwok Afghan News that thousands of rockets had been fired into the district from Pakistan over the past three years, causing life and property losses.

He said the lull might be a result of President Ghani’s visit to Pakistan, but the aggression needed to be permanently stopped.

A resident of the Dangam district, Saifullah, said similar lulls had been witnessed in the Pakistani attacks, but they had resumed.

He said such lulls were witnessed whenever a senior Afghan official visited Pakistan or a Pakistani official visited Kabul.

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