Pakistani officials launched a crackdown on illegal Afghan refugees on Wednesday. This development came after the government set a deadline for the refugees to leave the country.The Pakistani government last month gave an ultimatum to all undocumented immigrants to leave Pakistan by October 31 or else risk imprisonment and deportation. It announced that action would be taken from November 1 against those illegal foreigners who had not left the country.Afghan refugees lives and rights are at stake.Amnesty strongly reiterates its call to the Government of Pakistan to immediately reverse its decision to forcibly deport unregistered Afghan refugees ahead of the deadline set for tomorrow.https://t.co/0Lt6eBHuvg— Amnesty International (@amnesty) October 31, 2023A process to arrest the foreigners for deportation has started as of November 1, the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that voluntary return would still be encouraged. Within hours of the ministry statement, authorities began detaining and transferring the undocumented foreigners to transit centers, The Express Tribune reported. Moreover, the Interior Ministry said 140,322 people had already left voluntarily.Deputy Commissioner reportsIn Karachi, where a significant Afghan migrant and refugee population resides, Deputy Commissioner Junaid Iqbal Khan reported that up to 74 individuals have already been relocated to one of the transit centers. Among them, up to 40 had no proper documents. Witnesses observed police escorting some of these individuals in police vehicles. Inside the center, authorities had erected tents to provide shelter for those gathered. Media were not granted access to the interior.Afghans return from Khyber PakhtunkhwaOn Wednesday, approximately 7,000 Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Officials noted that 115 illegal Afghan residents, 64 of whom were held in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, and 51 in Peshawar Central Jail, were also deported through the Torkham border point, The Express Tribune reported.Authorities on the Afghan side of the border have been overwhelmed by the scale of the exodus as they grapple with processing the returnees, some of whom are setting foot in Afghanistan for the first time in their lives. Samiullah Samoon, who oversees immigration registration at Torkham, described the situation at the crossing as an emergency.Of those returning voluntarily, approximately 104,000 Afghan nationals left the country via the primary Torkham border crossing in the past two weeks. Some of them have been living in Pakistan for more than 30 years without any proof of registration, stated Nasir Khan, the areas deputy commissioner.The decision to expel the illegal foreigners was taken after a spate of terrorism this year, out of which 14 were suicide bombings. In several cases, Afghan nationals were found involved in those attacks. The move has drawn flak from various local and international groups as well as the Taliban-led Afghan government.(With ANI)
