PESHAWAR: As Pakistan launched a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the wake of the expiry of the deadline, more than 7,300 refugees, including over 100 prisoners, were deported via the Torkham border crossing.
In a statement, the interior ministry said the process to “arrest the illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan has started” for their deportation.
The ministry stated that since the start of October at least 140,322 foreigners have “voluntarily returned to their respective countries”.
“Today, we said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey back home. This action is a testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation,” the statement added.
Many Afghan nationals, who were serving prison sentences for petty crimes, were freed for their deportation to their home country.
“Those released from jails were involved in minor crimes and will not be required to complete their sentence on return to Afghanistan,” the ministry officials added.
The influx of Afghan refugees at the Torkham border overwhelmed the border management facilities, as the authorities concerned struggled to process the deportation of immigrants.
Among over 7,300 Afghan nationals deported on Wednesday, there were 51 prisoners released from Peshawar’s central jail and 64 from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
“There is a huge number of ‘illegal immigrants’ waiting for their turn to be deported. The situation may go out of control,” ministry officials revealed.
Although 22 teams of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) “are collecting data of the immigrants, the number of illegal immigrants at the border is swelling with every moment”.
The officials said there were multiple ‘holding centres’ in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but they were “almost empty” since most of the undocumented immigrants were being moved to the border, adding to the already inflated backlog.
Speaking about the prisoners deported to Afghanistan via Torkham, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Relief) Muhammad Imran Khan said, “These were all charged and imprisoned for illegally staying in Pakistan with some in prison for three years. Now, the government decided to deport them following court orders.”
Khan stated that Afghan nationals would be documented and their data would be collected by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), after which they would be moved to the Pak-Afghan border crossing in Torkham for deportation.
“NADRA will obtain all the required details, including fingerprints and pictures. Since we don’t have International Border Management System (IBMS) available at this facility, these Afghan nationals will be transported to Khyber district for IBMS and later deported,” an FIA official deputed at a ‘holding centre’ in Peshawar said.
Due to restrictions on their movement, the refugees had to wait inside their respective vehicles for the NADRA officials who gathered their data before the deportation.
Meanwhile, In Balochistan, the police along with the Federal Investigation Agency and other authorities launched a crackdown and rounded up more than 100 Afghan immigrants living on the outskirts of Quetta. These ‘illegal immigrants’ were shifted to the ‘holding camps’ which were established at Quetta’s Haji Camp from where they will be deported via the Chaman border.
Late-night reports suggested the detention of hundreds of refugees who were brought to the ‘holding centre’.
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