n July 21, Inayat Kasi, a former minister, announced at a sit-in that an agreement had been reached with the government. He said their demands had been accepted. Kasi claimed that border crossings would resume as before, allowing people to use their national identity cards for identification. Sadiq Achakzai, head of the sit-in organising committee, seconded his claim.

A day after the sit-in protest ended, a large number of people headed to the border. Security personnel at the border allowed them on production of their identity cards. The practice continued for five days before it was halted.

During this period, the government did not issue any notification or statement regarding the negotiations. Chaman Deputy Commissioner Raja Athar Abbas refused to discuss the matter, referring reporters to the Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind. However, attempts to reach Rind were unsuccessful.

The trust deficit

Later, the sit-in committee claimed that they had been deceived and called for another sit-in.

Speaking to The News on Sunday, Abbas said that the law and order situation in Chaman was stable and that the government was trying to provide more facilities to the people. “Efforts are being made to find a solution to the problems highlighted by protestors,” he said.

The deputy commissioner also said the sit-in committee had demanded the removal of the passport requirement to allow travel across the border. He said that it was unlikely that the government would consider this demand in the near future.

Chaman Sit-in Committee spokesperson Sadiq Achakzai claimed in an interview with the TNS that while some of the participants were in jail, a formal agreement was negotiated with them. According to Achakzai, the agreement stipulated the restoration of border crossings for residents of Chaman and Qila Abdullah on production of national identity cards. “However, this agreement was not implemented,” he said.

Achakzai claimed that several key officials from state institutions were involved in the talks. He also said that many countries allowed similar facilities to people living near national borders.

“After the agreement was disregarded, the trust deficit between the people of Chaman and the government became pronounced. This prompted the committee to call for another sit-in. Their demands remain the same: to allow residents of Chaman and Qila Abdullah, the districts adjacent to the border, to travel without having to produce passports. Additionally, they demanded that residents of the Afghan border district of Boldak be allowed to travel to Chaman using tazkira,” he said.

Achakzai said that the protestors were not opposed to the passport requirement for other people. “But in districts adjacent to the border, people live in extreme poverty. They heavily rely on border trade and seek the restoration of earlier travel arrangements.” He said that people on both sides of the border were often from the same tribe, spoke the same language and shared the same culture.

Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind was not available for his comments.

Journalist Ahmed Zahir reported that the situation in Chaman had become highly confusing. “The hopes raised by the sit-in have not been realised. The fact that the sit-in was called off at one point and then resumed has also demoralised the people,” he said.

Zahir highlighted the lack of alternative employment opportunities in Chaman. “Most of the people are impoverished. They lack the resources to obtain passports. The only options they are left is working abroad to provide for their families,” he said.

Salahuddin, a young resident of Chaman, currently working at a hotel in Lahore, said that he used to earn between 2,000 and 2,500 rupees a day by working at the border. He said this allowed him to live comfortably. “After the government mandated passports and visas, my family faced starvation. I participated in the sit-in for seven months. We sold women’s jewelry to make ends meet. In the end we had to leave the town to find work elsewhere,” he said.

When the news broke that the demands of the sit-in protesters had been accepted, Salahuddin was overjoyed. He planned to return home. However, the border crossing was closed again, leaving him uncertain about the future.

The deadlock

Chaman is located about 120 kilometers from Quetta. For a long time now, it has been a key passage for cross-border trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Following the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan, the border has been frequently in the news. In 2023, when the caretaker government mandated passports and visas for cross-border movement, thousands of Chaman’s residents, political activists and traders expressed their resentment by staging a sit-in protest.

Before the closure of the Chaman border, 20,000 to 25,000 people used to cross the border daily using the Afghan Tazkira and Pakistani ID cards. Some of them were labourers from the border districts. Torkham and Chaman are the largest gateways for pedestrian movement and trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan. passports and visas were made mandatory at the Torkham border crossing in 2016.

The 274-day sit-in

The sit-in to highlight opposition to the passport requirement was the longest in Chaman’s history. Earlier, in 2020, local trade organisations had held a 62-day sit-in against a border closure.

The 2023 sit-in began on October 21. The state employed various methods to persuade the protesters to disperse, including negotiations and use of force. The protest severely disrupted daily life in Chaman and trade between the two countries. For four months, the protesters had halted all forms of trade.

In May 2024, the situation deteriorated when security forces attempted to end the sit-in. Two protesters were killed. All banks, passport offices, NADRA offices and government offices in the city remained closed for over a month and the polio vaccination was halted.

In June, the tension escalated after the government used force to open government offices and public roads. This led to clashes in which over 60 protesters and security personnel were injured. The city remained shut down for three days. During this period, security forces arrested dozens of people, including the sit-in leaders Sadiq Achakzai and Ghausullah. While some of the protesters were released soon afterwards, five of the organisers of the sit-in were detained until a day before the sit-in ended.

The writer is a freelance reporter