Thousands of Afghans have crossed the border from Pakistan in current days, the United Nations and Taliban officers stated, as Islamabad ramped up pressure for them to return to Afghanistan.
Pakistan final month set an early April deadline for some 8,00,000 Afghans carrying Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC) issued by Pakistan authorities to depart the nation, one other part in Islamabad’s marketing campaign in recent times to repatriate Afghans.
Families with their belongings in tow lined up on the key border crossings of Torkham within the north and Spin Boldak within the south, recalling comparable scenes in 2023 when tens of hundreds of Afghans fled deportation threats in Pakistan.
“In the last 2 days, 8,025 undocumented & ACC holders returned via Torkham & Spin Boldak crossings,” the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) stated in a put up on social media platform X on Monday.
“IOM stands ready to scale up its response at key border points with forced returns expected to surge in the coming days,” it stated.
Taliban officers additionally stated hundreds of folks had crossed the border, however at decrease charges than the IOM reported.
Refugee ministry spokesman Abdul Mutalib Haqqani advised AFP that 6,000-7,000 Afghans had returned because the begin of April, saying “more than a million Afghans might return”.
“We are urging Pakistan authorities not to deport them (Afghans) forcefully — there should be a proper mechanism with an agreement between both countries, and they must be returned with dignity,” he stated.
‘An hour to depart’
The UN says practically three million Afghans stay in Pakistan, many having lived there for many years after fleeing successive conflicts of their nation and after the Taliban’s return to energy in Kabul in 2021.
“We were forced to return. Two days ago I was stopped and asked for documentation when they were searching houses,” 38-year-old Abdul Rahman advised AFP after passing the Spin Boldak crossing together with his household from Quetta, in Pakistan’s southwest, the place they lived for six years.
“They didn’t even gave me an hour (to leave), I sold a carpet and my phone to make some money to come here, all my other belongings we left behind,” he stated.
Human rights activists have been reporting for months the harassment and extortion of Afghans in Pakistan, a rustic mired in political and financial chaos.
More than 1.3 million Afghans who maintain Proof of Registration playing cards from the UN refugee company, UNHCR, have additionally been advised to maneuver outdoors the capital Islamabad and the neighbouring metropolis of Rawalpindi.
Human Rights Watch has slammed “abusive tactics” used to pressure Afghans to return to their nation, “where they risk persecution by the Taliban and face dire economic conditions”.
Ties between the neighbouring international locations have frayed because the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan.
Islamabad has accused Kabul’s rulers of failing to root out militants sheltering on its soil, a cost that the Taliban authorities denies, as Pakistan has seen a pointy rise in violence in border areas with Afghanistan.
Published – April 07, 2025 10:56 pm IST
