Islamabad: The Pakistan government has said approximately 1.3 million Afghan refugees have been repatriated in a deportation drive launched since November 2023.
Parliamentary Secretary Mukhtar Ahmad Malik Wednesday provided the update while talking to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan news agency, The Express Tribune newspaper reported Thursday.
The government has repatriated approximately 1.3 million Afghan refugees in the deportation drive launched since November 2023, he said.
The government initially said it was first focusing on expelling foreigners with no legal documentation, and other categories, such as Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) — a document launched in 2017 to grant temporary legal status to Afghan refugees — would be included later.
Malik said around 3 million Afghan refugees were residing in Pakistan.
“Of these, 813,000 hold Afghan Citizen Cards (ECC) while 1.3 million possess Proof of Registration (PoR) cards,” he said.
It is believed that hundreds of thousands of Afghans were living illegally without any documents, the report said.
Earlier this year, the interior ministry asked all “illegal foreigners” and ACC holders to leave Pakistan before March 31, warning that they would otherwise be deported from April 1. Authorities subsequently started deporting thousands of Afghan nationals from all parts of the country.
In total, Pakistan has hosted millions of Afghan refugees who crossed the border during 40 years of conflict in their homeland.
PTI
