Pakistan, Afghanistan set up border hotline

Karachi [Pakistan], Apr. 5 (ANI): Pakistani and Afghan military officials have established a hotline to discuss the border situation. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the first hotline communication took place yesterday between the Pakistan's Southern Army Commander Lt.Gen. Aamir Riaz and the commander of the Afghan National Army's 205 Corps Lt.Gen. Daud Shah Wafadar. "Both sides discussed issues related to Pakistan-Afghan border, expressed satisfaction over establishment of hotline communication and vowed to continue such interactions in future," the ISPR said in a statement. Relations between the two countries deteriorated significantly following a terrorist attack in Pakistan's Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine that claimed dozens of lives and which Islamabad blamed on terrorists hiding in Afghanistan. In retaliation, Pakistan closed all its border crossings with Afghanistan on February 16 but reopened the borders on March 20 following a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Afghan National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar in London. Earlier in February, the Pakistan Army said that it destroyed camps and a training compound of militants across the border in Afghanistan following which the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi handed over a list of 76 terrorists orchestrating terrorist activities in Pakistan from the Afghan soil (ANI)