Over 446,000 illegal Afghans returned to their homeland

ISLAMABAD: Repatriation of illegal foreign nationals including Afghans to their homeland is continuing in a dignified and safe manner, ARY News reported on Sunday.

As per details, 1,159 illegal Afghan nationals returned to their country during past 24 hours, taking the total number of returned immigrants to 446,097.

54 vehicles were used to transport 287 men, 260 women and 612 children to Afghanistan.

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

The government of Pakistan is facilitating the illegal Afghans in the repatriation process at the Torkham and Chaman borders.

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Earlier, Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti rejected any ‘manhandling’ of illegal immigrants in Pakistan’s repatriation process.

“Prime Minister [Anwaarul Haq Kakar] has given very clear instructions that there should be no manhandling of illegal immigrants during the repatriation process,” the interior minister said while speaking on the Senate floor.

Sarfraz Bugti also assured the House that any mismanagement on the borders would be checked and suggestions from the political leadership in this regard would be welcomed. “No Afghan refugee having legal documents has been even touched,” he added.