Over one lac undocumented Afghan citizens returned to their homeland, as deadline for 1.7 million Afghans to leave Pakistan ends today and authorities waned of arrest and deportation.
Authorities in country’s northwestern Pakistan started arresting undocumented Afghans and taking them to new holding centres, and they will be forcibly returned to homeland.
As the deadline nears, a large number of refugees depart from the country. More than 104,481 Afghan refugees have returned across the border since Pakistani government sets November 1 as deadline.
Local mosques continue to make announcement in areas near the Pak-Afghan border to remind refugees to exit the country before the deadline. Meanwhile, officials issued warning for people who gave homes to Afghan residents for temporary stay.
Pakistani government has formed ‘holding centres’ in parts of the country where undocumented refugees will be held after crackdown.
Crisis hit Pakistan hosted millions of refugees who started trickling into the country during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Lately, several Pakistani areas, especially KP and Balochistan saw uptick in terror attacks as intel reports claimed that Afghan residents were involved in terror incident, forcing government to shut down doors on Afghans.
Illegal immigrants to be kept in Holding centres , confirms interior minister
