By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Pakistan has expelled over 80,000 Afghan nationals since the end of March, a senior official said on Friday, as part of a repatriation drive ahead of the April 30 deadline.
Afghan nationals who have no legal documents to stay or those holding Afghan Citizen Cards had been warned by Islamabad to return home or face deportation by March 31, a deadline which was then extended to April 30.
The April 30 deadline is final, Talal Chaudhry, an interior ministry adviser told a press conference in Islamabad, underlining that only those Afghans who hold valid visas to be in Pakistan would be allowed to stay.
The repatriation drive is part of a campaign called the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan launched in late 2023.
Pakistan has in the past blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens, who form the largest migrant group in the country. Afghanistan has rejected the accusations, and has termed the repatriation as forced deportation.
Chaudhry was speaking just a day before Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to lead a high-powered delegation for talks in Kabul.
“The talks will cover the entire gamut of the Pakistan-Afghan relationship, focusing on ways and means to deepen cooperation in all areas of mutual interests, including security, trade, connectivity, and people-to-people ties,” a foreign office statement said.
Pakistani authorities say they have set up temporary centres in various cities to house the Afghan nationals before transporting them to the Torkham border crossing in northwest Pakistan.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad; additional reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; Editing by Rachna Uppal)
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