Pakistan releases 58 illegal Afghan nationals

Deutsche Presse Agentur
Published: Saturday August 26, 2006

Islamabad- Pakistan released Saturday at least 58 Afghan nationals recently arrested while crossing into the country illegally via the south-western Balochistan province. "They were later handed over to a senior Afghan government official at the Friendship or Dosti bridge in the Chaman town bordering Afghanistan's city of Spin Boldak," a regional government official Abdul Baseer told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Pakistan has already deployed over 80,000 troops to its porous border with Afghanistan in the west to check illegal cross border movements especially by Taliban remnants and al-Qaeda activists.

Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of insufficient measures to curb cross border infiltrations which Islamabad has denied as "nonsensical".

However, both countries agreed last June to strengthen bilateral relations in their ongoing fight against terrorism.

© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agenteur