PESHAWAR: More than 100,000 undocumented Afghan nationals have returned voluntary to Afghanistan through the northwestern Torkham border crossing in the last two weeks, a Pakistani government official said on Wednesday.
Deputy Commissioner Abdul Nasir Khan said the Afghan nationals had traveled from across Pakistan to the border crossing.
Pakistan’s deadline to expel all undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of Afghan nationals, is expiring later on Wednesday.
On October 3, the interim government directed all illegal immigrants to sell their properties and leave the country by November 1.
Addressing a press conference after the apex committee meeting under the chairmanship of the interim prime minister, Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti stated that illegal foreign residents were being given a deadline of November 1 to leave the country.
The minister informed that 1.73 million unregistered and illegal Afghans are currently living in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Pakistan said on Monday the decision to ask illegal immigrants to leave was in exercise of its domestic laws irrespective of their nationality and country of origin“.
Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said this in response to a press statement issued by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which had called on Pakistan to “suspend forcible returns of Afghan nationals before it is too late to avoid a human rights catastrophe”.
“The decision is in exercise of Pakistan’s sovereign domestic laws, and compliant with applicable international norms and principles.
“All foreign nationals legally residing/registered in Pakistan are beyond the purview of this Plan,” the FO said in a statement.
It further said that Pakistan takes its commitments towards protection and safety needs of those in vulnerable situations with utmost seriousness, adding that “the country’s record of the last 40 years in hosting millions of Afghan brothers and sisters speaks for itself.”