The Pakistani government has announced that it will deport undocumented immigrants, including Afghans, by November 1 if they do not leave the country voluntarily. The government estimates that there are around 1.7 million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s leader in charge of safety and rules, Sarfraz Bugti, said that by November 1,2023 about 1.73 million people who came to Pakistan from Afghanistan and don’t have the right papers or are undocumented immigrants need to leave the country. If they don’t, they might be sent back forcefully. This decision came after officials said that many of the recent bombings in Pakistan were done by people from Afghanistan.
Bugti explained that out of 4.4 million Afghan people living in Pakistan, almost 1.73 million don’t have the right papers. He said, “There’s no doubt that some attacks on us are done by people from Afghanistan“. He mentioned that they have proof of this.
Since 1979, Pakistan has had a lot of people come in from Afghanistan. Especially after a big problem there with the Soviet Union. Currently, 1.3 million people from Afghanistan can stay in Pakistan, and 880,000 others can stay legally.
Bugti warned that if the people without the right papers don’t leave. The police and other law people will step in to make them go. However, it’s not clear how they’ll find and send these people back.
After Effects
The embassy of Afghanistan in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, said that this announcement is making things hard for Afghan people and that more than 1,000 Afghans have been held in the last two weeks, even though they had permission to be in Pakistan.
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Fazal Rehman, who sells fruit in a city in Pakistan called Peshawar and is from Afghanistan, is worried. He came to Pakistan 30 years ago and his kids have never even been to Afghanistan. He never thought he needed to register with the authorities in Pakistan, and now he’s scared it’s too late.
Starting November 1, only Afghan people with the right travel papers will be allowed to enter Pakistan. Before, they could use their ID cards to come in from Afghanistan. But getting a passport in Afghanistan can take a long time, and getting a visa for Pakistan can also be slow.
Bugti also said that they will get tough on Afghan people who own property and businesses in Pakistan.