ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has closed Tourkham and Chaman border in wake of elections in Afghanistan that is being held Saturday.
According to sources, all types of transportation and trading activities are suspended while supplies for Nato forces are also being suspended.
Security sources said that both the borders will be opened on Sunday.
Voting is underway in Afghanistan’s presidential election, amid heavy security and threats from insurgents.
Tens of thousands of Afghan forces have been deployed across the country to counter Taliban militants who have vowed to target polling stations.
Read more: US Deal will not stop attacks on Afghan forces: Taliban
The twice-delayed vote is taking place after Taliban-US peace talks collapsed earlier this month.
The presidential election is being contested by 15 candidates, with incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah seen as the top contenders.
The polls opened at 7pm local time (2:30 GMT) on Saturday and were scheduled to close at 5pm (14:30 GMT).
The elections were originally scheduled for 20 April, but the Independent Election Commission announced on 26 December 2018 that they would be postponed until 20 July, in order to resolve problems that became apparent during the October 2018 parliamentary elections.
‘The additional time will be used to verify voter lists and train election workers on the new biometric identification system’.
On 20 March 2019, the IEC once again delayed the election, this time by two months from 20 July to 28 September. A spokesman blamed the delay on changes in election laws along with management and technical problems − the presidential vote will now coincide with local council votes and delayed parliamentary elections in Ghazni Province.
INP
