Any Afghan national who does not have legal documents to stay in, or who holds an Afghan citizen card, has been warned by Islamabad to return or face deportation by March 31.
The April 30 deadline is final, Interior Ministry adviser Talal Chaudhry told a press conference in Islamabad that only Afghans in Pakistan will be allowed to stay.
Repatriation Drive is part of a campaign called the Illegal Repatriation Plan that began in late 2023.
Pakistan has previously condemned extremist attacks and crimes against Afghan citizens, and he forms the country’s largest immigrant group. Afghanistan has refused to file charges and calls deportation a forced deportation.
Chaudhry had spoken a day ago that Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is scheduled to lead the best delegation for consultations in Kabul. “The consultation covers the full scope of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations and focuses on ways and means of deepening cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, including security, trade, connectivity and people-to-people relationships,” the Foreign Ministry statement said. Pakistani authorities say that they have set up temporary centres in various cities to cross the Torkham border in northwestern Pakistan before accusing Afghan citizens.
