ISLAMABAD: Amid rising tensions between Kabul and Islamabad over allegations of cross-border militancy in Afghanistan, Pakistan on Tuesday announced that in response to an "extraordinary situation," it decided to fence and mine parts of the Durand Line that separates the two countries.

"In keeping with our policy to prevent any militant activity from Pakistan inside Afghanistan, the Pakistan Army has been tasked to work out modalities for selectively fencing and mining the Pakistan-Afghanistan border," Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammed Khan said at a briefing here. Mr. Khan also announced a decision to expand the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary for deployment, alongside the army, on the border.

The Dawn reported that President Pervez Musharraf chaired a high-level inter-agency meeting on Pakistan-Afghanistan relations on Saturday. Other reports over the weekend said the Bush administration demanded fresh military operations against suspected pro-Taliban militants in North and South Waziristan, tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, where the Pakistan Government has concluded peace agreements with the local people.

Mr. Khan declined to comment on "news reports." He said Pakistan did not think it necessary to inform or get an agreement from Afghanistan about its latest decision as these were measures Islamabad would implement on its side of the border.

Kabul does not officially accept the Durand Line as the international border even though it has never disputed it.

Intention well known

Mr. Khan said Pakistan's intention of fencing and mining its border 2,400-km long border was "well-known" and "stated publicly several times." The selective fencing and mining will exclude designated crossing points through which thousands of ordinary Pashtun tribals travel between the two countries.

Pakistan is not a signatory to the Ottawa Convention against landmines. "We do understand the sentiment behind that convention but let me say that there is an extraordinary situation and we need to take extraordinary measures to respond to it." The Foreign Secretary asked the United Nations to arrange for speedy repatriation of the over two million Afghan refugees, who have been living in Pakistan for more than two decades, and to relocate camps close to the border and "the cause of much contention." Pakistan was in the process of registering the refugees and hoped to complete the process soon.

Mr. Khan said Pakistan had implemented several measures, including setting up 700 checkposts on the Afghan border, military cooperation with the United States and Afghanistan and intelligence sharing with NATO, ISAF and Afghan forces. The responsibility to prevent militancy had to be equally shared by these forces.

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