Over 300 illegal migrants arrested in Karachi

KARACHI: Over 300 illegal migrants have been arrested in Karachi as the government initiated a nationwide operation to deport undocumented foreign nationals after the deadline to voluntarily leave the country expired, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

In a statement, the police said they have carried out several raids across Karachi and arrested over 300 undocumented foreign nationals, residing illegally in the city.

According to the police, most of the raids were carried out in District West, wherein 133 illegal migrants were detained. The operations were conducted in Orangi Town, Manghopir, Sarjani Town, Kati Pahari and Pakistan Bazar.

Meanwhile, 54 illegal foreigners were detained from East District, 40 from South District, 25 from Malir, 27 from Old City Area and 11 from Korangi.

All the illegal migrants have been shifted to New Haji Camp holding camp.

It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan’s deadline for illegal immigrants to leave the country voluntarily expired today.

Pakistan, reeling from an economic crisis and a deteriorating law and order situation, asked all illegal immigrants to leave voluntarily before November 1 or face deportation.

Pakistan is home to over millions of Afghan migrants and refugees, of which about 1.7 million are undocumented, officials say.

More than 100,000 Afghan migrants have already left Pakistan since the start of October. More than 80 per cent have left via the Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the majority of Afghan migrants live.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd.) Maqbool Baqar allocated Rs4.5 billion for the repatriation of illegal immigrants.