Deadline ends, deportation of Afghans to begin from April 1

ISLAMABAD: The deadline for the Afghan nationals living in Pakistan ends midnight on March 31.

All preparations for the deportation of the illegal Afghans and other foreigners have been completed and the process will start from April 1.

In many districts, police have been directed to detain and shift all illegal Afghans ti a specific center from where they will be sent to Khyber Pakthunkhwa for onward deportation to Afghanistan.

Deputy Commissioner of Khyber District Bilal Shahid Rao media that the deadline for voluntary evacuation of foreigners living illegally in the country will end today and the process of deportation will start from tomorrow.

The DC said that all preparations had been completed to deport the foreigners and a temporary camp or transit point had been set up at Landikotel ground which had a capacity of 1500 people at a time. Separate washrooms have been set up for men and women, medical facilities will be available in the transit point and free food will also be provided.

After completing the legal process at the  transit point, the foreigners will be deported to Afghanistan via Torkham. The distance from Landikotel transit point to Torkham border is 10 km and free transport service will be provided for this distance.

The DC added that iron fencing had been installed around this temporary camp set up on 29 kanals of land. Police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed for security.

On the other hand, Commandant Bara Rifle Brigadier Mohammad Shoaib along with PDMA officials including Deputy Commissioner Khyber Bilal Shahid Rao, DPO Rai Mazhar Iqbal today visited the temporary camp and reviewed the arrangements of the transit point.

Deputy Commissioner Rao briefed Brigadier about the arrangements and preparations at the temporary camp.

It was informed in the briefing that NADRA, customs, FIA including PDMA staff had been deployed in the temporary camp.

The deputy commissioner said that the camp was being monitored through CCTV cameras and the home department had been given online access to CCTV cameras.