فشار ارتش پاکستان بر احزاب برای تایید تعلق خیبرپختونخوا به آن کشور

Sources told TOLOnews that the Pakistan Army has recently instructed political parties to refer to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as an official part of Pakistan during their speeches.

According to the sources, some political parties have complied with this request. However, imprisoned leaders of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) have refused to do so, despite facing intense pressure and being offered release from prison in exchange.

The sources added that after rejecting the army’s demand, the bank accounts of several PTM members were frozen, and multiple cases were filed against them.

Shahswar Sangarwal, an international relations analyst, said: “Recently, Pakistani parties and politicians, including Imran Khan, have stated that the hypothetical Durand Line is not a recognized border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lies along the disputed hypothetical Durand Line, which was established in 1893 through an agreement between Amir Abdur Rahman Khan, the then king of Afghanistan, and Sir Mortimer Durand, the British envoy in colonial India. However, Afghanistan has never recognized the hypothetical Durand Line, an artificial boundary dividing Pashtun and Baloch communities, since gaining independence.

Most recently, the Defense Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan stated in Qatar that the fate of the hypothetical Durand Line should be decided by the people living on both sides of the border.

The hypothetical Durand Line stretches 2,640 kilometers, from Badakhshan and Wakhan near Chitral to the province of Balochistan. It separates Kunar and Nuristan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Nangarhar, Paktia, and Paktika from North and South Waziristan; and Zabul and Kandahar from Kurram, Bannu, and Quetta, divisions that have never been fully accepted by the people on either side.