Over 200,000 illegal Afghan nationals have returned home

KARACHI: Repatriation of illegal foreign nationals including Afghans to their homeland continues amidst the crackdown against illegal immigrants, ARY News reported on Friday quoting officials.

Every day thousands of unregistered Afghan citizens are returning to their homeland through Torkham and Chaman border.

A large number of Afghans are present at the Torkham and Chaman border who are willing to go back to their country.

Transit camps for illegal foreigners have been established in various districts of KP and Balochistan, which have all the daily facilities.

According to details, 3035 illegal Afghans returned to Afghanistan yesterday.

On November 8, 4,119 illegal Afghans left for their country. Among the returning Afghan citizens, 1,272 men, 1,188 women and 1,659 children went to their country.

On October 3, an apex committee of the National Action Plan (NAP) meeting chaired by Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar gave all foreign nationals living illegally in the country until October 31 to leave voluntarily or face deportation.

After the expiry of the deadline, the caretaker government has swung into action against illegal immigrants.

Mostly Afghan nationals staying in Pakistan as undocumented illegal immigrants. Repatriation of the illegal Afghans through the Chaman and Torkham borders has been underway.

The FC and the Afghan government have agreed to keep the Torkham border till 11 at night to ensure smooth repatriation of the illegal immigrants.

Caretaker Minister for Interior Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti directed the authorities concerned to formulate a comprehensive strategy for the repatriation of foreigners residing illegally in Pakistan.

During a meeting, the caretaker interior minister vowed to tackle the illegal immigration issue and provide foolproof security to foreigners.

The minister said that maintaining law and order was the top priority of the government and that miscreant activities by any individual or group would not be tolerated.

He directed the authorities to formulate a comprehensive strategy for the return of foreigners residing illegally in Pakistan.