Pakistan 'halts' repatriation of illegal immigrants

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has temporarily halted the repatriation of illegal immigrants, including Afghan refugees, following a request from the United Nations, ARY News reported citing sources.

According to sources, the decision came after the recent visit of UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi to Pakistan.

During his visit, Grandi met with Afghan refugees in Peshawar and Haripur and held talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and other high-ranking officials.

The UNHCR chief requested the Pakistani government to suspend the repatriation of illegal immigrants, citing humanitarian concerns.

Prior to this decision, repatriation of illegal Afghan nationals continued as 620,981 Afghans have returned to their country till June 22.

READ: 620,981 illegal Afghans returned to their homeland

Between 11th to 21st of this month, total 13,815 Afghans returned to their country including 5,014 men, 4,087 women and 4,714 children.

It is pertinent to mention here that the apex committee of the National Action Plan (NAP) in a meeting on October 3, 2023, chaired by the then-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.

Since the expiry of the deadline over 500,000 illegal Afghans have returned to their homeland via the Torkham and Chaman borders.

Pakistan faced criticism from several countries including US, UK, Afghanistan and others, but it rejected all the statements and said only Afghans living illegally in Pakistan were being deported to control increasing crimes.