The government has repatriated approximately 1.3 million Afghan refugees in an expulsion campaign launched since November 2023, said parliamentary secretary Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, the parliamentary secretary, parliamentary Mukhtar Ahmad Malik, said on Wednesday on Wednesday, the parliamentary secretary, the Pakistan Associated Press reported.
The Government initially declared that it focuses first on the expulsion of foreigners without legal documentation and other categories, such as the Afghan citizen card (ACC) – a document launched in 2017 to grant temporary legal status to Afghan refugees – would be included later.
Answering a question raised by the legislator Anjum Aqeel Khan during a parliamentary session, Malik said that around 3 million Afghan refugees resided in Pakistan. “Among these, 813,000 hold Afghan citizen cards (ECC), while 1.3 million have proof registration cards (POR),” he said.
He pointed out that Afghan nationals wishing to enter Pakistan for medical purposes, education or business are welcome provided they get a Pakistani visa and provide valid documentation with them.
Earlier this year, the country’s interior ministry asked all the “illegal foreigners” and the ACC holders to leave the country before March 31, warning that they would otherwise be expelled from April 1. Authorities then started to expel thousands of Afghan nationals from all regions of the country.
In total, Pakistan welcomed more than 2.8 million Afghan refugees who crossed the border for 40 years of conflict in their homeland.
