- Sources indicate that Afghan refugees will be returned from today.
- The federal government decides against any extension of the deadline.
- Policy to expel illegal immigrants who are part of peace and security efforts.
The process of repatriating Afghan refugees illegally residing in Pakistan will start today (Tuesday) while the deadline of March 31 for voluntary return is over.
Sources affiliated with the domicile department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have said that Afghan refugees will be returned to Afghanistan from today (April 1).
The federal government had decided last week not to have an extension of the deadline despite requests from the Taliban government.
The government had also asked for the Afghan students from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the provincial government by March 27 for updating the dashboard of the foreign national security cell linked to foreign nationals and needed data from Afghan students.
Policy to expel illegal immigrants is part of the efforts made to improve the security situation in the midst of increasing terrorist attacks in the country – which Islamabad again has time to blame terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory.
Until now, up to 878,972 Afghans illegally living in Pakistan returned to their country, Radio Pakistan reported today.
Meanwhile, the human rights duty Amnesty International urged Pakistan to withdraw its illegal repatriation plan from illegal foreigners concerning the expulsion of illegal immigrants and Afghan citizens residing in the country.
In a press release, Amnesty said that Islamabad’s deadline on March 31 for Afghans would exacerbate their misfortunes.
It should be noted that Pakistan welcomes 2.1 million documented Afghans. There are hundreds of thousands of undisped Afghan nationals also living in Pakistan for decades.
“Of the total of 2.1 million, 1.3 million Afghan refugees are those who have obtained proof of registration cards. More than 52% of them are in KP,” said the spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Qasier Afridi.
He added that around 800,000 Afghans, which had obtained ACC cards and the majority of them lived in KP.
The country has welcomed millions of Afghans for about five decades. Hundreds of thousands of them have returned to their country in recent years, but more than 2.1 million have lived in KP and other provinces.
The Pakistani authorities established March 31 as the deadline for all illegal Afghans as well as those who had ACC cards to return to their country.
There are tens of thousands of Afghans, who were born in Pakistan and who barely gone to their homeland in their lives.
Many of them are again concerned as the deadline approaches quickly from the sacred month.
Peshawar welcomes the greatest number of Afghan nationals than any other city. Thousands of them have made their own business while others have been working in the city for several decades. They live in many urban, suburban and rural areas as well as the local population.
In 2023, the government had only set the deadline of October 31 for unregistered foreigners, after which a large number of undocumented Afghans returned to their country of origin via Torkham and other border crossings.
Special camps have been installed in Chamkani, Nowshera and other districts in the country for those who return to Afghanistan voluntarily.