UPDATE - Thousands deported as Pakistan launches crackdown on undocumented foreigners

UPDATES WITH LATEST DETAILS, CHANGES HEADER, LEDE AND DECK

By Islamuddin Sajid and Aamir Latif

ISLAMABAD (AA) – ***Pakistan Wednesday launched a crackdown on undocumented foreigners, mainly Afghans, across the country, deporting thousands to neighboring Afghanistan as the deadline for them to leave the country ended the previous day.

The first group of foreigners arrested by Islamabad police during the last few days was deported to Afghanistan on Wednesday morning.

"Today, we said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey back home. This action is a testament to Pakistan's determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation," interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on X.

Provincial governments of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southwestern Balochistan provinces also launched a crackdown to arrest and shift undocumented foreigners into holding camps.

Later in the day, some 5,000 Afghan refugees left for Afghanistan via southwestern Chaman crossing, which borders southern Kandahar province, while another 3,000 are kept at a "holding center" near the border, Deputy Commissioner of Chaman Raja Athar Abbas told reporters.

Since Oct. 1, Abbas added, a total of 37,000 undocumented Afghan refugees have left for their homeland via the Chaman crossing.

According to the Interior Ministry, over 140,000 "undocumented foreigners" have voluntarily left the country over the past month.

Pakistan's Afghan Commissionerate, in a statement, said that "hundreds" of " illegal" Afghan refugees have been sent back to Afghanistan via the northwestern Torkham border, while "thousands" others are residing at "holding centers" who will be sent to Afghanistan in days to come.

Footage aired on multiple broadcasters showed police personnel visiting different markets and shops, and checking documents of Afghan nationals in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and other cities.

Another spectacle showed a large number of men, women and children at the two main crossing points queuing up and waiting for their turn for identity verification before crossing over the other side of the border.

Islamabad says only undocumented foreigners will be deported following the expiry of the deadline.

Pakistan’s caretaker government had announced last month to deport all undocumented foreigners after Oct. 31.

The UN, human rights organizations and Afghanistan's Taliban-led interim administration had urged Pakistan to reverse its decision. But Islamabad said the government had no plan to extend the deadline and all foreigners would be deported regardless of their nationality.

Pakistan has been hosting a large number of Afghan refugees since the 1979 Soviet invasion of its northern neighbor, with nearly 2.9 million still living in the country.

According to the UN human rights office, more than 2 million undocumented Afghans were living in Pakistan, including at least 600,000 who left Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.

Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai on Tuesday said they would confiscate and sell properties of all undocumented foreigners who were living in the country.

Meanwhile, a delegation led by Afghan interim Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs Mawlavi Abdul Salam Hanafi visited the Torkham border to assess and address the challenges faced by thousands of Afghans returning from Pakistan every day.

Assuring the returnees of all possible facilities, Hanafi directed the relevant officials to urgently establish two temporary camps near Torkham town and in the Degha area of Lalpoor district. These camps will provide tents, water, food, shelter, and basic health needs, said a statement from the Afghan Information Ministry.