As the deadline approached for the departure of all undocumented immigrants, which includes around 1.7 million Afghan nationals, from Pakistan, the interim Interior Minister, Sarfraz Bugti, stated on Monday that if these individuals do not leave the country voluntarily, the caretaker government would begin expelling them in phases.
Pakistan announced October 31 as the deadline for the removal of illegal immigrants earlier this month.
According to The Express Tribune newspaper, Bugti mentioned that the state would initiate its operation to expel these immigrants in stages after November 1.
Bugti confirmed that more than 20,000 illegal foreigners left Pakistan voluntarily over the past three days. He also mentioned that all provincial governments would actively participate in the operation against illegal foreigners and committees have been formed at divisional and district levels.
Furthermore, Bugti clarified that the expulsion of illegal foreign nationals would be carried out in phases, with people lacking travel documents to be deported in the initial phase.
The illegal immigrants, many of whom have resided in Pakistan for an extended period, will be processed at temporary centers established by the government.
“The government has completed the geo-mapping and will locate illegal foreign nationals wherever they are,” he said, emphasizing the establishment of holding centers for illegal foreigners after the deadline.
He assured that these centers would provide all necessary facilities for the illegal foreign nationals when questioned about their safety.
For the past four decades, Pakistan has been hosting Afghan refugees who fled Afghanistan during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation.
The October 31 deadline for illegal immigrants, especially Afghan nationals, received widespread criticism.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on the Pakistani government to “suspend forcible returns of Afghan nationals before it is too late to avoid a human rights catastrophe.”
Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch stated that the repatriation plan applied to “all illegal foreigners residing in Pakistan, irrespective of their nationality and country of origin.”
“The decision is in the exercise of Pakistan’s sovereign domestic laws and compliant with applicable international norms and principles,” she said in a statement.
Baloch also called on the international community to scale up efforts to address “protracted refugee situations through advancing durable solutions as a matter of priority.”
She reiterated Pakistan's commitment to working with international partners in this regard.
Earlier, the Afghan government criticized Pakistan's decision and urged it to reconsider.
