Pakistani safety forces have launched sweeps to arrest and deport Afghans who’re within the nation with out papers, sending dozens again after a government-set deadline for them to go away expired.
The crackdown on undocumented migrants is usually affecting some two million Afghans dwelling in Pakistan with out papers, although the federal government says it targets all undocumented or unregistered foreigners.
The marketing campaign has drawn widespread criticism from United Nations companies, rights teams and the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s inside minister stated 64 Afghans had been rounded up, detained and deported on Wednesday.
“Immediately, we stated goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they started their journey again residence,” Interim Inside Minister Sarfraz Bugti wrote on X, previously often known as Twitter. “This motion is a testomony to Pakistan’s willpower to repatriate any people residing within the nation with out correct documentation.”
1000’s of refugees had crammed into vans and buses on Tuesday and headed to the 2 key border crossings to return residence to keep away from arrest and compelled deportation.
In keeping with the UN companies, there are greater than two million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, no less than 600,000 of whom fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration have turn out to be strained over the previous two years due to stepped-up assaults by the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group that’s allied with the Afghan Taliban.
