Officials said on Monday that Pakistan authorities have resumed forced deportation of Afghan refugees after the federal government refused to extend a major deadline for their stay.
The decision affects approximately 1.4 million Afghans with evidence of registration cards (Por), whose legal status ended at the end of June. Many were hoping to extend a year to settle personal affairs, such as the sale of real estate or closing business, before returning to Afghanistan.
In addition to the Por Cards holders, about 800,000 Afghan holds the cards of Afghan citizen. Police say that they also live in the country illegally and are being held before the deportations in the eastern Punjab, southwest of Balochistan and the southern Sindh district.
Monday’s resolution has been criticized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (the United Nations Commission for the United Nations Commission for the United Nations Refugee Commission.
At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year, according to a report issued by the Commission in June. The restoration of this huge scope has the ability to destabilize the fragile situation in Afghanistan, as the Taliban government reached power in 2021.
The government notification on July 31, which was seen by the Associated Press, confirms Pakistan’s decision to return all Afghan citizens with expired Por cards. It stipulates the Afghans without valid passports and Pakistani visas in the country illegally and must return to their homeland under Pakistani immigration laws.
Police is held throughout the Afghan Pakistan to transport them to the border crossings, according to two government officials and security who spoke, provided that his identity is not disclosed because they were not allowed to speak publicly.
They said that there are no mass arrests, and the police were informed of going to a house to a house and conducting random tests for the detention of foreigners who live in the country illegally.
“Yes, Afghan refugees who live in Pakistan illegally are sent in an illegal way,” said Shaichel Khan, the Afghan Refugee Commissioner in the northwestern Khyberbuchbuchblukha District.
Ferichta Abbasi, a researcher in Afghanistan in Human Rights Watch, said, UK immigrants-are noticeable or not-are afraid of leaving their homes in Pakistan, after reports on arbitrary arrests and extortion, as they face a government deadline on March 31 to leave the country.
He said that the last operation is the most important step yet from the federal government in Islamabad.
The Rimat of God, 35, said that his family migrated to the city of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan decades ago, and she is now preparing to return to their homes.
“I have five children and my anxiety is that they will miss their education,” he said. “I was born here, my children were born here and now we will return,” he said.
Millions have fled to Pakistan over the past four decades to escape war, political turmoil and economic difficulties. The renewed deportation engine followed a repression worldwide, which was launched in 2023 targeting foreigners who live illegally in Pakistan.
The Ministry of Interior, which supervises the campaign, did not comment immediately.
Al -Qaiser Khan Afraidi, a spokesman for the United Nations Refugee Agency, has expressed his deep concern about the recent measures of the government.
“The return of people in this way is a process of penetration and a violation of the international obligations of the state.
“We call on the government to stop the forced return and ensure a gradual, voluntary, and generous re -process,” said Aphidi. “Such a huge and hasty return can endanger the lives of Afghan refugees and the freedom of Afghan, with the risk of weakness not only in Afghanistan but all over the region.”
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