Islamabad, March 8 (HS): Pakistan has ordered illegal refugees and Afghan Citizen Card holders to exit by March 31, 2024. Failure to comply will result in forced deportation from April 1, as per the government’s Illegal Foreigner Return Program initiated on November 1, 2023.

According to the report of the newspaper Dawn, the Home Ministry has announced that all Afghan citizenship card holders and illegal foreign nationals will have to leave the country by March 31, 2025. For those who do not return voluntarily within this time limit, the process of their forced deportation will start from April 1, 2025. The Home Ministry has assured that there will be no misbehavior during the expulsion process.

Pakistan constantly blames Afghan citizens for terrorist attacks within its borders and, in 2023, initiated a campaign to expel illegal Afghan refugees. The UN reports that over 800,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan since then. Pakistan has hosted around 28 million Afghan refugees over the past 40 years due to ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan. Following the Taliban’s return to power, millions sought refuge in neighboring countries, predominantly Pakistan and Iran. Notably, Pakistan already had about 3 million Afghan refugees from the 1980s, with over 600,000 arriving after the Taliban’s resurgence.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar