14 Pakistanis who joined Afghan police return home

Chitral: At least 14 Pakistanis who crossed the border to join the Afghan police force have resigned from their jobs and returned home, officials said on Sunday, amid simmering tensions with Afghanistan.

The men, from the remote northwestern Chitral valley, are among a number of jobless Pakistanis in border areas who have fled to neighbouring Afghanistan to escape grinding poverty and hunt for employment, officials said.

Nearly three dozen last year joined the ranks of Afghan security forces, a trend that has set off alarm bells in the Pakistani security establishment.

Afghanistan and Pakistan blame each other for a number of recent cross-border attacks that have killed dozens and displaced hundreds of families.

“At least 14 Pakistanis have reached back... after resignation. We are expecting a dozen more this week,” said Remat Ullah Wazir, a top government official in Chitral.

They returned after authorities warned their families of stern action against the men, Wazir said.

“We were worried that some anti-Pakistan elements could use them against their own country,” he said.

Chitral valley lies near the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, where Taliban militants are active.

Afghanistan shares a disputed and unmarked 2,400-kilometre border with Pakistan, and Taliban and other Al Qaida-linked militants have carved out strongholds on either side.

Afghanistan earlier this month terminated two top security ministers after lawmakers charged that they had failed in their handling of cross-border shelling barrages blamed on Pakistan.

Islamabad has said at least 15 cross-border attacks over the last year were carried out by militants against Pakistani check points and the civilian populations in the northwestern towns of Dir and Chitral.