Pakistan Army Major Ali Jawad Changezi injured in Torkham firing succumbs to wounds

A Pakistan Army major injured in Torkham firing succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday.

“Major Ali Jawad Changezi has succumbed to his wounds,” a security official confirmed to The Express Tribune.

Military’s media wing ISPR also confirmed the news of Changezi’s death.

Islamabad has strongly protested to Kabul over Sunday night’s ‘unprovoked firing’ by Afghan security forces at the Torkham border crossing as authorities clamped a curfew on the main border town amid renewed tensions between the two militancy-plagued neighbours.

Afghan border guards started ‘unprovoked firing’ at roughly 9pm on Sunday to disrupt the construction of a gate on the Pakistani side of the border.

The military released an image on Monday, showing the under-construction gate is 37 metres inside Pakistani territory.Two Pakistani border guards and nine civilians – including women and children – were injured in the firing that continued till 5am on Monday. Pakistani forces effectively retaliated, and an Afghan official claimed that one of their soldiers was killed and six were wounded.

In Islamabad, the Afghan charge d’affaires was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to convey Pakistan’s strong protest over the ‘unprovoked firing’.

“The Afghan charge d’affaires was told that the firing incident was contrary to the spirit of friendly relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.“The Afghan side was urged to thoroughly investigate the incident and share the findings with Pakistani authorities. It was further emphasised that all steps should be taken to avoid recurrence of such incidents in the future.”

It added that the gate at Torkham border crossing was being constructed to facilitate cross-border movement of people and vehicles.“The under-construction gate is 37 metres within Pakistani territory,” the ISPR said and released a picture in support of the claim.