ISLAMABAD: Foreigners illegally residing in Pakistan have just three days left to leave Pakistan as the November 1 deadline approaches.
On Thursday, the government gave a last warning to all illegal immigrants in the country including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals, to leave voluntarily before a Nov. 1 deadline as the caretaker interior minister addressed a press conference.
Interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti told media here that Pakistan was determined to go ahead with a plan to expel all undocumented immigrants after November 1.
He said Afghan nationals were found to be involved in crimes, smuggling and attacks against government and the army, including 14 out of 24 suicide bombings in 2023. He said all the illegal immigrants have been identified as the state has a complete data on it.
Pakistan received the largest influx of Afghan refugees since the Soviet invasion of Kabul in 1979. Hundreds of thousands of Afghans moved to Pakistan to escape war and later conflicts, and many were registered as refugees with the government and UN agencies.
The expulsion plan marks a new low in relations between the South Asian neighbours after border clashes in recent months. Pakistan alleges that the militants use Afghan soil to train fighters and plan attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies, saying Pakistani security is a domestic issue.
Meanwhile, the Pakistani government has approved setting up several deportation centers for illegally residing Afghan nationals they plan to arrest and repatriate to Afghanistan starting after the deadline expires. An estimated 1.7 million Afghans are among those facing forcible eviction.
Special deportation centres would be established in the country’s four provinces: Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
Illegal Afghan nationals detained in Punjab and Sindh in the coming days will be transferred to centers in Rawalpindi and Karachi districts, respectively. Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa will have two deportation centres — in Chamkani and Nowshehra — while Balochistan will house three facilities; in the provincial capital of Quetta, Pishin and Qilla Abdullah districts. Tens of thousands of Afghans have so far voluntarily returned to their home country since Islamabad announced the deadline nearly a month ago.
