Police shares update on Afghan refugees deportation from Punjab

LAHORE: The Punjab Police have launched a massive operation against Afghan refugees, detaining over 2,772 individuals in the past 24 hours, ARY News reported.

As per details, 1,336 of the refugees have been deported with the help of relevant authorities. The crackdown aims to identify and deport all illegal foreign nationals from the province.

To facilitate the deportation process, 46 holding centers have been established across Punjab. Security has been heightened during this operation, with Inspector General (IG) Punjab, Dr. Usman Anwar, overseeing the efforts.

The IG has directed the CCPO Lahore, RPOs, and DPOs to expedite the deportation process.

In Rawalpindi, the police have targeted Afghan citizens holding Afghan Citizen Cards, detaining over 353 individuals who will be deported to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur said that Afghan refugees will not be forced to leave or throw them on the border.

He opposed the government policy to tackle the people who resorted to arms.

“We have to see, why they have taken arms. They are our own people, we have to own them,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s CM here said. “We have solution of terrorism,” Gandapur claimed.

Talking on sending back Afghan refugees to home, KP chief minister said, “We could not throw them back on the border”. “We will not send Afghan migrants back until the Afghan government consents to accept them,” Gandapur said.

He said the KP government will not force any Afghan refugee to return. “We have to move ahead to negotiate with Afghanistan”, he said.