Police in Multan city, Pakistan, have detained 13 Afghan doctors and a medical student, taking them to a deportation center despite their pending visa applications for almost a year. The group was arrested at a government hospital in Multan and transferred to a detention facility in Attock, facing potential deportation. The doctors had applied for new visas or extensions, with no official decision from Pakistani authorities, as reported by Afghanistan-based news agency Khaama Press.
The detained individuals revealed that some sought entry visas while others requested visa extensions, all facing unresolved immigration cases despite repeated document checks by Pakistani police and security agencies over the past year. Concerns were raised by the doctors about being deported to Afghanistan before completing their medical specialization and training programs. They have appealed to both Pakistani and Afghan authorities to intervene, allowing them to stay in Pakistan until they finish their studies.
The arrests of Afghan medical professionals come amid Pakistan’s heightened efforts to crack down on undocumented foreign nationals, particularly Afghan individuals, through increased detention and deportation operations. Simultaneously, 525 Afghan families were repatriated from Pakistan to Afghanistan, with three refugee camps in Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province emptied. Additional Deputy Commissioner Umar Khittab Khan confirmed the phased repatriation process in accordance with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s directives, emphasizing the relocation of Afghan families from the refugee camps to Afghanistan via the Torkham border crossing.
Authorities are now targeting Afghan nationals residing in rented accommodations and private residences in Bannu and surrounding areas for repatriation, sharing their details with local police stations to facilitate the process. The Ministry of Interior in Pakistan had previously mandated the immediate arrest of any Afghan nationals without valid visas starting from July 10, intensifying deportation efforts that began in 2023 and escalated in April last year when residence permits for Afghans were revoked, warning of arrests for non-compliance.
