Islamabad, July 13 (IANS) Pakistan has intensified its campaign against Afghan migrants by arresting and deporting them following the expiration of government’s deadline for undocumented foreigners to leave the country, local media reported.
An enforcement drive has begun after the expiration of the July 10 deadline for Afghans without valid visas to leave voluntarily.
“Afghan migrants in Pakistan said authorities are now detaining not only undocumented migrants but also Afghans whose visas or Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) have expired. Pakistani authorities say the campaign is underway in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir,” Amu TV reported.
According to the Pakistani government, people holding Afghan Citizen Cards and other temporary documents also face deportation.
Taliban’s Secretariat of the High Commission for Addressing Returnees’ Issues said that more than 4,000 Afghans were deported from Pakistan in 24 hours over the weekend.
An Afghan migrant living in Pakistan confirmed that many families have been unable to renew their visas.
“Visas have effectively been unavailable for about a year,” he said. “If we are arrested and deported, we all know what the situation is like in Afghanistan. We fear retaliation by the Taliban,” the report quoted Ahmad as saying.
According to an Afghan journalist living in Pakistan, widespread anxiety among Afghan families has been created due to the Pakistani government’s latest directive. The figures from Pakistani media say that nearly 2.59 million Afghan migrants and refugees have been deported since the launch of Pakistan’s repatriation campaign in late 2023.
Another Afghan journalist in Pakistan, stressed that many of those who fled after the Taliban returned to power in 2021 remain at risk.
“Those who sought refuge in Pakistan after 2021 are refugees, not ordinary migrants,” she said. “Returning them to Afghanistan could cost them their lives,” highlighted the report by Amu TV.
Pakistan has been warned by the United Nations and international human rights organisations to halt the forced deportations, warning that many returning Afghans could face persecution, arbitrary detention, torture or reprisals upon their return.
–IANS
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