Pakistan deports over 1,300 Afghans home in a week
More than 1,355 Afghan nationals have been deported from Pakistan since April 1, as the country continues its drive to remove foreigners living there without legal papers.
Officials say most of the Afghan nationals were sent back through the Torkham border.
On April 6 alone, over 876 people holding Afghan Citizen Cards were returned to Afghanistan, according to authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In Punjab, over 1,000 more Afghan citizens have been arrested and taken to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for deportation.
According to sources, they are expected to be officially sent back soon.
Pakistan’s deportation campaign is happening in phases.
So far, more than 4,100 people have already been sent back, and nearly 6,000 more are in holding centres waiting to be deported.
Punjab Police say they have set up 46 holding centres across the province, including five in Lahore, where more than 1,800 people are staying now.
In Attock, police have detained over 700 Afghan migrants, including women and children. Around 365 of them have already been sent to the border, while the rest are being taken care of at a temporary camp.
In Rawalpindi, police are also arresting Afghans with citizen cards. Over 130 people have been moved to camps so far.
Punjab’s top police officer, Usman Anwar, said, “We are carrying out this process in a safe, respectful, and legal way.”
He added that police are working daily to make sure all undocumented foreigners are sent back properly.
