Pakistan launches nationwide crackdown on illegal immigrants as deadline expires

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on Wednesday launched a crackdown on illegal immigrants, including 1.7 million Afghan nationals, as a government-set deadline for them to leave the country expired.

The caretaker government last month gave an ultimatum to all undocumented immigrants to leave Pakistan by October 31 or else risk imprisonment and deportation. It announced that action would be taken from November 1 against those illegal foreigners who had not left the country.

As the day passed by, reports began pouring in about police arresting undocumented foreigners in different parts of the country, including Karachi, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and other cities to deport them.

In Karachi, the authorities detained four illegal Afghan immigrants from the Saddar area and shifted them to a holding centre from where they will be repatriated to Afghanistan after fulfilling legal formalities, Geo News reported.

A heavy contingent of police also reached the metropolis’ Sohrab Goth area and warned the undocumented immigrants through loudspeakers to return to their country by Wednesday midnight.

Similarly, dozens of illegal immigrants from different places were detained in Balochistan’s Chaman area, according to officials of the Levies Forces, a paramilitary gendarmerie in the province.

They said a large number of Afghan refugees reached Chaman from all over the country after the authorities issued a deadline to leave the country.

The Levies police officials said the undocumented migrant Afghan families are being shifted to holding centres after registration. They added that as many as 5,000 illegal Afghan refugees had been shifted to the holding centre so far.

Speaking to Geo News in Peshawar, SSP Operations Kashif Aftab Abbasi said police teams, along with the district administration, were present in different areas to advise the undocumented foreigners to return to their country.

According to Afghan commissionerate sources, as many as 104,000 Afghan refugees living illegally in Pakistan have returned to Afghanistan so far. The undocumented refugees included 28,000 men,19,000 women and 56,000 thousand children.

Punjab IG Usman Anwar said the plan for the repatriation of illegal residents has been finalised, and the provincial police will implement the federal government directives.

He said the detained undocumented foreigners will be kept at holding centres and will be expelled from the province after fulfilling legal formalities. He added that providing transport, food, and other arrangements will be the responsibility of the district administration.

Meanwhile, two illegal Afghan migrants were arrested in Rawalpindi’s Pirwadhai area and shifted to the holding centre. Biometric verification of the detained Afghan citizens will be conducted by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in the holding centre.

All the holding points in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces have been provided with facilities to repatriate illegal foreigners following the completion of the legal process.

Apart from providing NADRA with mobile units, offices of magistrates and other officials have been set up at the holding point on Nasir Bagh Road in Peshawar to complete legal formalities before deporting undocumented Afghans.

Medical and other facilities have also been provided at the centre, where adequate security has been arranged.

It was learnt that foreigners from Islamabad and Punjab would be brought to the holding point in Landikotal near the Afghan border.

Others from Peshawar and different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province would be shifted to the holding camp on Nasir Bagh Road, from where they will be taken to the Torkham border.

A control room was set up at the Home Department to monitor the process, where senior officers will represent different departments, including police, district administration, intelligence agencies, NADRA, Passport and Immigration and Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

Caretaker Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jillani clarified that only those Afghan refugees are being deported who are living in Pakistan without legal documents.

He said there are numerous categories of Afghan refugees, and only the undocumented immigrants were respectfully told to leave Pakistan.

The foreign minister also said that the authorities will show leniency towards those Afghan refugees who might face problems after returning to their country.

He said the interim Afghan government has also formed a commission for the rehabilitation of the refugees.

Pakistan, as well as other countries, will extend support to the interim Afghan government for the rehabilitation of the returnees, Jillani added.

According to official estimates, over 4 million Afghans live in Pakistan, including about 1.7 million illegal and undocumented who are allegedly involved in militancy and various crimes.

The decision to expel the illegal foreigners was taken after a spate of terrorism this year, out of which 14 were suicide bombings. In several cases, Afghan nationals were found involved in those attacks.

The move has drawn flak from various local and international groups as well as the Taliban-led Afghan government.