QUETTA: The government of Afghanistan has allowed Afghan refugees living in Chaman and adjacent border areas to cast votes in the presidential election being held on Saturday (today).
The Election Commission of Afghanistan has established a polling station for this purpose in Vesh Mandi, the first Afghan town across the Chaman border.
Sources said though the Pakistan-Afghan border would remain sealed on the polling day, Afghan refugees desiring to cast their votes would be allowed to cross the border through the Friendship Gate near Chaman.
The Afghan border authorities had asked their Pakistani counterparts to allow refugees and tribesmen living on both sides of the border to cross it to cast their votes, they said.
A commander of Afghan border force in Vesh Mandi asked the refugees to come to the town on foot and do not use vehicles for the cross-border travel. The refugees would be thoroughly frisked and must have valid documents proving their identity, he told Chaman-based reporters on phone.
The refugees and other Afghan nationals living in Pakistan would return to their camps and houses after casting their votes.
This time the Afghan government has not made any arrangement in the Pakistani territory to enable the refugees to take part in the polls. In the past two presidential elections, polling stations were established for them in the Pakistan territory where Afghan election workers supervised the polling process.
Meanwhile, movement of people and vehicles from both sides of the border came to a halt on Friday afternoon.