Process begins for deportation of illegal Afghan nationals

ISLAMABAD: After the expiry of the deadline set for the illegal Afghans to go back voluntarily on October 31, the police and other law enforcement agencies started action against those still staying in different cities and towns.

On the first day of the action against the illegal aliens, police in Islamabad rounded up 64 Afghans. They were later shifted to Peshawar in two buses.

The police and officials of the Federal Investigation Agency guarded the buses along the road. From Peshawar, they would be transported to the Torkham border for deportation to Afghanistan.

Officials said that action had also been launched against the illegal Afghans in different parts of the country. Most of the illegal Afghans are reported to be living in Karachi.

The Sindh caretaker government has set up two holding centers in Karachi where the illegal Afghans would be kept and then sent to Balochistan for deportation through the Chaman border.

Last month, the caretaker government announced its decision to send back all foreigners living in the country without proper documents.

The illegal foreigners were given four of weeks, till October 31, to voluntarily leave the country.

The government had stated that after expiry of the deadline, illegal migrants would be deported.

However, officials said that less then 10pc of the over one million Afghans had voluntarily returned to their country by October 30.

Caretaker prime minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar recently said there were at least 1.1 million illegal Afghan nationals living in Pakistan.

He said the deadline was not just for the illegal Afghans but for all those aliens who have been living in the country without any documents.

Earlier, interior minister Sarfraz Bugti said the government had put in place a strategy to evict all aliens living in Pakistan without legal authority when the deadline for them to go back to their countries expires on November 1.

Sources told News Diplomacy that local administrations, police and jail officials had been authorized to detain any illegal foreigners under section 3 of the Foreigners Act 1946.

Afghan and other nationals already held in jails in major crimes would not be deported but those held in minor cases would be release and sent back to their country.