Thousands of illegal immigrants scrambled to leave Pakistan to avoid arrest or deportation as the November 1 deadline expires today (Tuesday).
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Interior had asked illegal immigrants to leave Pakistan voluntarily by November 1 or face deportation.
The government maintained that the decision was not centric to only illegal Afghan nationals that had been staying inside the country but encompassed all those undocumented and illegal foreigners.
Pakistan has hosted more than four million Afghan refugees on its soil for the last 40 years under the Geneva Convention, despite the fact that it was not a signatory to that, according to Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar.
A day earlier, he said more than one million foreigners had been categorised as illegal who had been staying in Pakistan without legal and valid documents.
According to sources in the commissionerate for Afghan refugees, illegal Afghan residents continued returning to Afghanistan via Torkham border crossing.
From October 1 to 28, as many as 4,672 families consisting of 67,604 people returned to Afghanistan, they added.
They said all repatriated Afghans were living illegally in Pakistan and added that Afghan families are being allowed to return to the neighbouring country after the fulfilment of legal formalities.
Punjab IG Usman Anwar said he was in contact with the authorities concerned for the repatriation of the illegal immigrants and phase-wise evacuation of illegal immigrants will begin across the province from November 3.
He said the illegal residents would be evacuated from Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Sheikhupura, Lahore, and other areas of the province.
The illegal residents will be expelled from the province through designated points and they will be kept at “holding centres” before expulsion, the Punjab IG said.
All arrangements for the respectful repatriation of illegal foreigners have been completed and as many as 49 holding centres have been established across the country for this purpose.
The centres have been set up to ensure the safe and respectful return of the illegal immigrants after screening the returnees.
In Punjab, holding centres have been established in 36 districts, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Peshawar, Haripura and Landi Kotal districts while two established in Karachi’s Kemari and Malir districts.
In Balochistan, three centres have been established in Quetta, Pishin and Chagai districts, while one each has been set up in Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad.
As many as eight border crossing points will be used for the repatriation of illegal immigrants
The government has said it would begin arresting undocumented Afghans and taking them to new holding centres from Wednesday, from where they will be processed and forcibly returned to Afghanistan.
"Thousands of Afghan refugees are waiting for their turn in vehicles, lorries, and trucks, and the number continues to grow," Irshad Mohmand, a senior government official at the Torkham border told AFP.
"More than 10,000 refugees have gathered since morning."
More than 100,000 Afghan migrants have fled Pakistan since the start of October when the government announced that 1.7 million Afghans it says are living illegally in Pakistan have a one-month deadline to leave.
"To avoid any humiliation by the Pakistani authorities I have decided to leave," Zulfiqar Khan, who was born to refugee parents in a sprawling Peshawar aid camp, told AFP last week.
More than 80% have left via the northern Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of Afghan migrants live.
Police in the province said they have not yet begun arrests as families leave voluntarily.
Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti warned that law enforcement agencies will start removing "illegal immigrants who have ... no justification" being in Pakistan after Tuesday.
They will be processed at "holding centers" and then deported, he told reporters, adding that women, children and the elderly would be treated "respectfully."
Pakistani citizens who help undocumented migrants obtain false identities or employment will face legal action, Bugti warned.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that the expulsion plan was compliant with international norms and principles.
"Our record of the last forty years in hosting millions of Afghan brothers and sisters speaks for itself."
Pakistan is home to over 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of whom are undocumented, according to Islamabad.
Afghans make up the largest portion of migrants — many came after the Taliban retook Afghanistan in 2021, but a large number have been present since the 1979 Soviet invasion.
The expulsion threat came after suicide bombings this year which the government said involved Afghans.
Islamabad has also blamed them for smuggling and other terrorist attacks.
Cash-strapped Pakistan, navigating record inflation and a tough International Monetary Fund bailout programme, also said undocumented migrants have drained its resources for decades.
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