An estimated 1.7 million unauthorized Afghan asylum seekers in Pakistan have been ordered to leave the country by November.
Tensions have increased this year as a result of an increase in militant attacks close to the two countries’ border.
The Taliban regime has refuted Pakistan’s border crossing attacks on Afghanistan-based operatives
It has, however, increased resentment in Islamabad, which on Tuesday announced a crackdown on “illegal” migrants.
At least 50 people were killed last week during a religious celebration when a mosque blast took place in Mastung city, close to the Afghan border.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti did not appear to directly reference that and another attack in Balochistan province when he announced the crackdown order on “illegal” Afghans on Tuesday.
In accordance with international law, people have the right to seek asylum abroad. Particularly since the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in 2021, Pakistan has welcomed hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees.
According to the UN, 880,000 Afghans have been granted legal status to remain, while about 1.3 million Afghans are listed as refugees.
However, Mr. Bugti asserted on Tuesday that an additional 1.7 million people are present in the nation “illegally,” presumably referring to those who have not yet received refugee status.
By the end of the month, he declared, those individuals would have to leave the country, either voluntarily or through forcible deportation.
“If they do not go… then all the law enforcement agencies in the provinces or federal government will be utilised to deport them,” he said according to state media reports. He made no further mention of the specifics of how the operation would proceed.
He also disclosed the creation of a task force to locate and seize the assets and private businesses of Afghans living in the nation “illegally”.
Officials from Afghanistan in Pakistan responded by saying that both those with and without legal authorization to stay in Pakistan had already been rounded up by local authorities.
More than 1,000 Afghans had been detained in the previous two weeks, according to a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, from its embassy.
From November 1, he announced tighter restrictions on Afghans entering Pakistan, saying only travelers with visas and passports would be allowed in.
Source-BBC
