An estimated 600,000 have arrived since the Taliban government took power in August 2021. (File)
Islamabad:
Some 1.45 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan will be able to stay for another year, Islamabad said on Wednesday, but insisted that evictions of undocumented migrants would continue.
More than 600,000 Afghans have fled Pakistan since Islamabad last year ordered undocumented migrants to leave or face arrest as relations with Kabul soured over security concerns.
Human rights monitors have warned that those sent to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan have received little support and some have faced persecution from the new rulers in Kabul.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said it approved an extension until June 2025 for the 1.45 million Afghan refugees legally residing in the country and who have proof of registration cards.
The cards expired at the end of last month, leaving holders without legal certainty about their right to remain in Pakistan.
Not all Afghan citizens in Pakistan have these cards and even those who do have reported being harassed and intimidated into leaving the country.
Islamabad’s announcement came a day after a three-day visit by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi.
In a statement released on Tuesday, UNHCR said Grandi “expressed appreciation that the ‘Illegal Aliens Repatriation Plan’ had been suspended.”
However, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said “this is not true”.
Mumtaz Zahra Baloch told journalists in a statement: “No such understanding has been given by Pakistan to UNHCR” and the scheme “remains in force and is being implemented in an orderly and phased manner”.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani immigration official at the Torkham border crossing said they had begun seizing documents, including refugee registration cards, from departing Afghans.
“We are implementing this directive following instructions from the Ministry of Interior,” said the official at the busiest crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“This measure is to ensure that they do not return to Pakistan and instead leave permanently, although they can re-enter after obtaining a visa,” he told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the years, fleeing decades of cascading conflict.
An estimated 600,000 people have arrived since the Taliban government took power in August 2021 and imposed its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Islamabad has previously said its massive eviction scheme is justified by security concerns and its faltering economy.
Analysts say it is putting pressure on Kabul due to increasing attacks in Pakistan’s border regions with Afghanistan, where the Taliban government is accused of providing safe haven to militants.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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