Rabat – Pakistan has issued a mandate for all unauthorized Afghan asylum seekers, numbering an estimated 1.7 million people, to leave the country by November. This decision follows a surge in attacks along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which Islamabad attributes to operatives based in Afghanistan.
The escalating tensions have prompted Islamabad to announce a crackdown on “illegal” migrants, drawing a sharp response from the Taliban government, who consider this move unacceptable.
Despite international law safeguarding the right to seek refuge in foreign countries, Pakistan has provided refuge to hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees over the decades, with an uptick following the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan in 2021. According to the United Nations, approximately 1.3 million Afghans are registered as refugees in Pakistan, while another 880,000 have been granted legal status to remain in the country.
Pakistan’s Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Shehryar Khan Bugti, stated that an additional 1.7 million individuals are in Pakistan “illegally,” referring to those who have not yet obtained refugee status.
Minister Bugti declared that these individuals must leave the country by the end of the month, whether voluntarily or through forced deportation. “If they do not go… then all law enforcement agencies in the provinces or federal government will be utilized to deport them,” he warned.
Although he did not provide specific details on the planned operations of forced deportation, he announced the formation of a taskforce with the aim of identifying and seizing private businesses and assets owned by “illegal” Afghans in Pakistan.
Reports from Afghan officials in Pakistan suggest that local authorities have already commenced rounding up Afghans, irrespective of their legal status. In a statement released on X (formerly Twitter), the Afghan embassy reported that over 1,000 Afghans had been detained in the past two weeks.
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The Balochistan province, located near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, has been a frequent target for armed groups, including the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Pakistani Taliban, and the Islamic State militant organization. Earlier this month, an explosion in the same district left at least 11 people injured, including a prominent Muslim leader.
The issue of documentation for Afghans seeking entry into Pakistan has also been a significant challenge. Afghans crossing into Pakistan via land borders traditionally used their national identity cards as travel documents. However, a substantial backlog in document processing has turned the visa and passport application process into a months-long ordeal, exacerbating the complexities of the situation.
