Pakistan has escalated its efforts against Afghan migrants by apprehending and expelling them after the government’s deadline for undocumented foreigners to exit the country expired. An enforcement operation has been initiated post the July 10 cutoff for Afghans lacking valid visas to depart voluntarily.
Authorities in Pakistan are now detaining not just undocumented migrants but also Afghans with expired visas or Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). The crackdown spans across Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, as reported by Amu TV.
The Pakistani government has stated that individuals possessing Afghan Citizen Cards and other temporary documents are also subject to deportation. The Taliban’s Secretariat of the High Commission for Addressing Returnees’ Issues revealed that over 4,000 Afghans were repatriated from Pakistan within a 24-hour period over the weekend.
A resident Afghan migrant in Pakistan affirmed that numerous families have faced challenges in renewing their visas. Expressing concerns, he mentioned the unavailability of visas for approximately a year and the apprehension of repercussions by the Taliban upon deportation, as quoted in the report.
According to an Afghan journalist residing in Pakistan, the recent directive from the Pakistani government has instilled widespread anxiety among Afghan families. Pakistani media statistics indicate that close to 2.59 million Afghan migrants and refugees have been deported since the inception of Pakistan’s repatriation campaign in late 2023.
Another Afghan journalist in Pakistan emphasized the continued vulnerability of those who sought asylum following the Taliban’s resurgence in 2021. She differentiated these individuals as refugees, not ordinary migrants, underscoring the potential life-threatening consequences of returning them to Afghanistan, as highlighted by Amu TV’s report.
Pakistan has received warnings from the United Nations and international human rights organizations to cease the forced deportations, cautioning that many repatriating Afghans might encounter persecution, arbitrary detention, torture, or retaliation upon their return.
