As the deadline for undocumented immigrants expired a day earlier, authorities on Wednesday kicked off a crackdown to detain foreigners residing illegally in Pakistan with thousands of Afghan migrants voluntarily returned to Afghanistan.
Undocumented foreigners in different parts of the country including Karachi, Rawalpindi, Chaman and others are being detained and moved to holding centres before being repatriated to their respective countries.
Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Tuesday announced that the government would start a crackdown on undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals, from Thursday (November 2).
"Only two days are left for a voluntary return," Bugti said in a video-recorded statement, adding that the November 1 deadline set for the voluntary return will expire on Wednesday.
Pakistan is home to more than 4 million Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7 million of them undocumented, according to the interior ministry, including many who were born in Pakistan and lived there their entire lives.
Islamabad announced earlier this month that it wanted all undocumented immigrants to leave by November 1 after they were found involved in crimes, smuggling and 14 suicide bombings out of 24 this year.
In Karachi, authorities detained four illegal Afghan immigrants from Saddar area and shifted them to a holding centre from where they will be repatriated to Afghanistan after fulfilling legal formalities.
Heavy contingent of police also reached the metropolis’ Sohrab Goth area and warned the undocumented immigrants through loudspeaker to return to their country by today midnight.
Similarly, dozens of illegal immigrants from different areas were detained from Balochistan’s Chaman area, Levies officials said.
They said a large number of Afghan refugees have reached Chaman from all over the country after the authorities issued deadline to leave the country.
The Levies officials said the undocumented Afghan migrant families are being shifted to holding centres after registration.
They added that as many as five thousand illegal Afghan refugees had been shifted to the holding centre so far.
Speaking to Geo News in Peshawar, SSP Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi said police teams along with the district administration are present in different areas to advise the undocumented foreigners to return to their country.
According to Afghan commissionerate sources, as many as 104,000 Afghan refugees living illegally in Pakistan have returned to Afghanistan so far.
The undocumented refugees included 28,000 men and 19,000 women and 56,000 thousand children.
Evacuation of illegal foreigners from Punjab will be phased from November 3, IG Punjab
Punjab IG Usman Anwar said the plan for the repatriation of illegal residents has been finalised and the provincial police will implement the federal government directives in this regard.
He said detained undocumented foreigners will be kept at holding centres before and will be expelled from the province after fulfilling legal formalities.
He said providing transport, food and other arrangements will be the responsibility of district administration.
Meanwhile, two illegal Afghan migrants were arrested in Rawalpindi’s Pirwadhai area and shifted to the holding center.
Biometric verification of the detained Afghan citizens will be conducted by National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) in the holding center.
In a post on X today, the interior minister shared a video of undocumented Afghan nationals returning to their country.
“We said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey back home. This action is a testament to Pakistan's determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation,” Bugti said.
All the holding points in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces have been provided with facilities to repatriate the foreigners after completing legal process. Apart from providing Nadra mobile units, offices of magistrate and other officials have been set up at the holding point on Nasir Bagh Road to complete legal formalities before deporting undocumented Afghans. Doctors and other facilities have also been provided at the centre where adequate security has been arranged.
It was learnt that foreigners from Islamabad and Punjab would be brought to the holding point in Landikotal. Others from Peshawar and different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be shifted to the holding camp on Nasir Bagh Road from where they will be taken to the Torkham border.
A control room was set up at the Home Department to monitor the process where Grade 17 or above officers will represent different departments, including police, district administration, intelligence agencies, Nadra, Passport and Immigration and Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
Speaking to the media, Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jillani clarified that only those Afghan refugees are being deported who are living in Pakistan without legal documents.
He said there are numerous categories of Afghan refugees and only the undocumented immigrants were respectfully told to leave Pakistan.
The foreign minister also said that the authorities will show leniency towards those Afghan refugees who might face problems after returning to their country.
He said the interim Afghan government has also formed a commission for the rehabilitation of the refugees.
Pakistan as well as other countries will extend support to the interim Afghan government for the rehabilitation of the returnees, Jillani added.
Responding to a petition submitted by a delegation of prominent human rights defenders (HRDs), the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has written a letter to the government and other stakeholders urging them to deal with Afghan asylum seekers according to national and international human rights commitments.
A delegation of prominent human rights defenders (HRDs) submitted a petition in NCHR requesting the Commission to play its role in restraining the government from detaining, forcefully deporting or otherwise harassing Afghan asylum-seekers.
The petition also suggested the Commission to direct UNHCR to expeditiously process and decide all the asylum-seeking applications files by the foreigners presently residing in Pakistan especially Afghan HRD.
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