Illegal Immigrants Deportation Operation.

[ghazi52]

See disrespect to Pakistan, unthankful Afghanis..

https://twitter.com/x/status/1908460344365728022

 

[ghazi52]

Deportation of undocumented Afghan migrants continues across Pakistan​

Among those deported, 2,874 men, 1,755 women, and 2,071 children have returned to Afghanistan.

News Desk
April 06, 2025

Afghan refugees wait in a queue to cross the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Torkham on October 27, 2023. PHOTO: AFP


The repatriation of Afghan refugees continues as the deadline set by the government has passed, with 944 foreign families, comprising 6,700 individuals, deported from Pakistan since April 1st.

Immigration sources reported that these individuals were transported to the Landi Kotal transit camp, where they underwent necessary processing before being deported through the Torkham border.

Among those deported, 2,874 men, 1,755 women, and 2,071 children have returned to Afghanistan.

The repatriation, which began on September 17th 2023, has seen a total of 70,494 Afghan families, representing 469,159 individuals, return to their homeland.

In addition to the deportations, a police crackdown in Rawalpindi continues, targeting Afghan nationals residing illegally in the country.

Since the beginning of April, 353 Afghan nationals have been detained for lacking valid residence documentation. The authorities have been focusing on those without Proof of Residence (PoR) cards and those with expired Afghan Citizen Cards.

This ongoing operation has intensified the security measures at the Golra Mor holding centre, where detained Afghan nationals are being processed for deportation.

The authorities have stated that the crackdown will continue, with further operations planned in the coming days.

Earlier, Law enforcement agencies had intensified operations across several cities to facilitate the repatriation of Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, particularly after the voluntary return period ended.

Many Afghan-run shops and offices in commercial areas, especially in Peshawar, had remained closed, as businesses owned by Afghan nationals shut down following Eid.

Authorities had also conducted a national re-verification campaign, with dozens of Afghan individuals having their Pakistani identity cards cancelled. A major crackdown was expected after April 11, with arrests likely to begin soon.

In Rawalpindi, over 50 Afghan nationals holding ACCs were detained, transferred to temporary camps, and were set to be repatriated.

In Karachi, similar operations had taken place, with 162 ACC holders already detained and taken to a holding facility.

The operation targeted an estimated 16,138 individuals nationwide, with authorities confirming that some individuals with Proof of Registration (POR) cards had been released.

The crackdown was ongoing, with law enforcement agencies conducting daily operations to ensure compliance with the government's deportation policy.

 

[ghazi52]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1908426249287954519

 

[Babaasif]

When taliban came back to power in 2021 more afghan refugees arrived in pakistan since these people were scared that the taliban might kill them because they worked for the previous regime.Are you sending them back to get killed.There are afghans who were born in pakistan refugee camps and lived all their life in pakistan.What are they going to do in afghanistan.

 

[ghazi52]

5,429 Afghan citizens returned to their country, Afghanistan, through the Torkham crossing

A total of 16,701 Afghan citizens have crossed the Torkham border into Afghanistan since April 1.




2:11 AM · Apr 8, 2025

 

[ghazi52]

Pressure builds on Afghans fearing arrest in Pakistan​

AFP
April 9, 2025

Afghan refugees wait to their departure for Afghanistan, at a holding centre near the border in Chaman on April 9. — AFP
https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaMc238IiRov8okfYy3n
Convoys of Afghans pressured to leave Pakistan are driving to the border, fearing the “humiliation” of arrest, as the government’s crackdown on migrants sees widespread public support.

Islamabad wants to deport 800,000 Afghans after cancelling their residence permits — the second phase of a deportation programme which has already pushed out around 800,000 undocumented Afghans since 2023.

According to the UN refugee agency, more than 24,665 Afghans have left Pakistan since April 1, 10,741 of whom were deported.

“People say the police will come and carry out raids. That is the fear. Everyone is worried about that,” Rahmat Ullah, an Afghan migrant in Karachi told AFP.

“For a man with a family, nothing is worse than seeing the police take his women from his home. Can anything be more humiliating than this? It would be better if they just killed us instead,” added Nizam Gull, as he packed his belongings and prepared to return to Afghanistan.

Afghan refugees gather for biometric verification at a holding centre ahead of their departure for Afghanistan, in Chaman on April 9. — AFP

Abdul Shah Bukhari, a community leader in one of the largest informal Afghan settlements in Karachi, has watched multiple buses leave daily for the Afghan border about 700 kilometres away.

The maze of makeshift homes has grown over decades with the arrival of families fleeing successive wars in Afghanistan. But now, he said, “people are leaving voluntarily”.

“What is the need to cause distress or harassment?” Bukhari said.

‘Harassed every day’​

Ghulam Hazrat, a truck driver, said he reached the Chaman border crossing after days of police harassment in Karachi. “We had to leave behind our home. We were being harassed every day.”

In Peshawar, police climb mosque minarets to order Afghans to leave: “The stay of Afghan nationals in Pakistan has expired. They are requested to return to Afghanistan voluntarily.”

Afghan refugees load their belongings on a bus as they prepare to leave for Afghanistan, in Karachi on April 8. — AFP

Police warnings are not only aimed at Afghans but also at landlords.
“Two police officers came to my house on Sunday and told me that if there are any Afghan nationals living here they should be evicted,” Farhan Ahmad told AFP.

Human Rights Watch has slammed “abusive tactics” used to pressure Afghans to return to their country, “where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions”.

In September 2023, hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans poured across the border into Afghanistan in the days leading up to a deadline to leave, after weeks of police raids and the demolition of homes.

‘That is their country’​

After decades of hosting millions of Afghan refugees, there is widespread support among the public for the deportations.

“They eat here, live here, but are against us. Terrorism is coming from there (Afghanistan), and they should leave; that is their country. We did a lot for them,” Pervaiz Akhtar, a university teacher, told AFP at a market in Islamabad.

“Come with a valid visa, and then come and do business with us,” said Muhammad Shafiq, a 55-year-old businessman.

Afghan refugees arrive at a holding centre ahead of their departure for Afghanistan in Chaman on April 9. — AFP

His views echo the government, which for months has blamed rising violence in the border regions on “Afghan-backed perpetrators” and argued that the country can no longer support such a large migrant population.

However, analysts have said the deportation drive is political.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad have soured since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

“The timing and manner of their deportation indicate it is part of Pakistan’s policy of mounting pressure on the Taliban,” Maleeha Lodhi, the former permanent representative of Pakistan to the UN told AFP. “This should have been done in a humane, voluntary and gradual way. “

 

[ghazi52]

Torkham witnesses emotional scenes as Afghans return​

Ibrahim Shinwari
April 10, 2025

Afghans wait along with their belongings in an open compound for return to their homeland at Torkham border on Wednesday. — Dawn photo

Emotional scenes were witnessed at Torkham border when returning Afghans shared with locals and journalists heartfelt memories of their decades-long stay in different parts of Pakistan.

They were also seen scrambling for their turn to cross over to Afghanistan after they were made to wait for hours while undergoing customs checking and electronic scanning of their personal belongings.

Women, children and elderly Afghans looked helplessly when their younger lot tirelessly struggled to clear the ‘deportation’ process while also negotiating their onward journey into their country with transporters as they were required to change their vehicles owing to absence of proper travel documents with some of the vehicle owners whom they had hired from different cities of Punjab.

Said Mohammad, a resident of Khost province, told journalists that the attitude of Punjab police was very rude and harsh with them as they were hurriedly arrested from their homes during odd hours and then bundled into buses, which brought them to Peshawar under Punjab police escort.

Refugees share memories of decades-long stay in Pakistan

He said that a number of Afghans were separated from their families after their arrest by police and now they had no knowledge about the whereabouts of their ‘missing’ family members including women and children.

A watchman by profession, Said Mohammad said that he and his family lived for 55 years in Pakistan and had every right to be accepted as a legitimate citizen of the country as per international laws for refugees.

“Punjab police did not even allow us to properly collect and pack our personal belongings while selling some of our household items to cater for our transportation charges,” he alleged.

Thirty-five-year-old Abdul Saboor and 23-year-old Abdullah said that they had never been to Afghanistan as they were born in Pakistan while they also had their parents buried in Pakistan but were now ordered to leave the country.

They said that they had to hurriedly vacate their shops in Punjab as police were not ready to give them time to plan their proper return and thus had to rush to Torkham in a disorganised manner.

“We have no clue as to where to go to in Afghanistan and what could possibly be our sources of earning as we have never been to our country of origin,” they said.

Nangyialai, a resident of Nangarhar province, said that it took him three days to reach Torkham from Rawalpindi where he had worked for over five years as a daily wager.

He said that the process of deportation in Landi Kotal and Torkham was lengthy and complicated while authorities were not allowing his family to proceed to his country as the vehicle he had hired from Rawalpindi was without a ‘temporary admission document’, which was declared mandatory for all vehicles transporting goods between the two countries as was agreed by both the neighbouring countries early last year.

Saifullah, another returning Afghan, was, however, all praised for the treatment he was meted by his Pakistani neighbours during his three-decade stay in the country but lamented that their deportation was started in an undignified manner.

Officials, however, conceded that temporary admission document (TAD) for vehicles crossing over to Afghanistan was relaxed and non-TAD vehicles were also allowed to take returning Afghans back to their country via Torkham border with only conditions for the drivers to carry their national passports.

They said that owing to rapidly increasing number of returning Afghan families and individuals, authorities installed a temporary scanning machine for luggage scanning at the transit centre.

While the ‘hustle bustle’ of Afghans deportation continued at Torkham, the quantum of exports from Pakistan has gradually increased since the opening of border on March 19 after remaining closed for both bilateral trade and pedestrian movement.

Custom clearing agents at Torkham told Dawn that the number of vehicles carrying multiple export goods went up to 450 on a daily basis in comparison to 250 vehicles per day only two months ago.

In comparison, vehicles bringing in import items from Afghanistan have declined due to a fault in the import scanning machine with border authorities allowing mostly empty vehicles which got stranded on the Afghan side of the border when the border was closed on February 21.

According to our Peshawar bureau, more than 21,794 Afghan refugees returned to Afghanistan since April 1.

Officials said that a total of 5,677 including 2,547 Afghan Citizen Card holders and 3,130 illegal Afghan immigrants left Pakistan via Torkham on Tuesday. They said that of 2,547 Afghan refugees having ACC, 1,843 left for Afghanistan voluntarily while 704 were deported. Of 3,130 illegal immigrants, 2,433 showed up at transit camps voluntarily while 697 were brought and deported to Afghanistan.

Since September 2023, when reparation of illegal immigrants began, a total of 491,317 refugees including 8115 ACC holders have returned to Afghanistan. Of 8,115 ACC holders, 2,882 left voluntarily while 5,233 were deported.

Officials said that 160 Afghan refugees were shifted to Torkham from Islamabad, 4,931 from Punjab and one Afghan refugee was transported from Gilgit-Baltistan since April 1.

They said that on Wednesday, 285 Afghan refugees were shifted from Sialkot, 272 from Gujarwalan, 82 from Rawalpindi, 105 from Peshawar, 348 from Attock, 142 from Islamabad, 11 from Khanewal, 48 from Faisalabad, 71 from Lahore, 109 from Mianwali, 38 from Jhelum and 160 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir were shifted to transit camps to be sent back to Afghanistan.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2025

 

[ghazi52]

Nationalist parties call for halting Afghans’ deportation​

Saleem Shahid
April 10, 2025

The deportation of Afghan refugees who spent more than four decades in Pakistan back to their country should be stopped, leaders of Pakhtun nationalist parties demanded on Wednesday.

Speaking at a joint press conference, ANP Balochistan president Asghar Khan Achakzai, PkNAP’s Nasarullah Zerey, National Democratic Movement’s Ahmed Jan Khan and Noor Bacha of PTM said the Afghan refugees were protected under the Citizenship Act and have rights.

They said Pakhtun nationalist parties have always opposed terrorism.

They expressed their serious concern over the ongoing economic crisis and political situation.

ANP, NDM, PkNAP leaders express concern over ongoing economic, political situation

The political leaders protested the expulsion of Afghan refugees, many of whom were generation born and raised in Pakistan.

They highlighted that both the Federal Shariat Court and the Peshawar High Court have ruled in favor of Afghan refugees, urging the government to immediately halt its crackdown against them.

Leaders of the Pakhtun nationalist parties attended a meeting at Arbab House, the office of ANP in Quetta, and condemned the deteriorating law and order in the province.

They said blaming Afghan refugees for the country’s problems was fallacious and called for the withdrawal of “false cases” against Pakhtun leaders, including Ali Wazir, the release of all missing persons, and the removal of political figures from the Fourth Schedule.

A five-member committee has been formed to coordinate with political parties and devise a future course of action against the deportations.

They also opposed the merger of Levies into police and the integration of Balochistan Constabulary into the Frontier Corps, terming it a violation of the 18th Amendment. The leaders concluded that “oppressive policies” only fuel resistance and that true peace could only be achieved through justice and equal rights for all.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2025

 

[ghazi52]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1909881275994751258

 

[ghazi52]

So far, 857,157 Afghan nationals have been repatriated. No further extensions are being granted.

40% of the world’s drugs are produced in Afghanistan, fueling crime and terrorism. Pakistan has long shown hospitality to Afghan brothers and sisters, but no further relief will be given to illegal foreigners.

It is Afghanistan’s responsibility to accommodate its own citizens.

The validity of ACC cards ended on March 31, while POR card holders have been given a deadline of June 30.

5:03 AM · Apr 13, 2025

 

[Babaasif]

So far, 857,157 Afghan nationals have been repatriated. No further extensions are being granted.

40% of the world’s drugs are produced in Afghanistan, fueling crime and terrorism. Pakistan has long shown hospitality to Afghan brothers and sisters, but no further relief will be given to illegal foreigners.

It is Afghanistan’s responsibility to accommodate its own citizens.

The validity of ACC cards ended on March 31, while POR card holders have been given a deadline of June 30.

There are afghans who were born in pakistan and lived all their life in pakistan and who never been to afghanistan.What are they going to do there.There are also afghans who died in pakistan and are buried there.They should not be forcefully deported.The poverty and unemployment situation became worse after taliban came back to power.

 

[ghazi52]

935,870x afghans have been deported from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

On 12th April 2025, Pakistan deported 7,025x afghans back to Afghanistan.
6:36 AM · Apr 13, 2025

 

[Babaasif]

935,870x afghans have been deported from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

On 12th April 2025, Pakistan deported 7,025x afghans back to Afghanistan.
6:36 AM · Apr 13, 2025

Last year there were reports that some deported afghans after staying in afghanistan for sometime came back to pakistan because survival over there can be much more difficult