Islamabad:
While the status of more than a million Afghan citizens holding proof cards (POR) is at stake after the expiration of their residence limit last month, refugees are concerned with economic losses due to the possible elimination of their assets in a hurry that they have built in the last five decades.
Although there is a slow implementation of the repatriation plan for illegal foreigners, refugees fear that they are forced to sell their precious assets at disposable prices in the event of validity of their cards would not be extended.
Due to security and economic considerations, the Pakistani authorities have decided to repatriate all illegal foreign immigrants in November 2023. Pakistan has so far repatriated around 1.3 million Afghans and there are still around 1.6 million things again, according to data compiled by a United Nations entity.
These include more than a million refugees who have por cards, but these documents expired on June 30, 2025. The government is considering two options, a temporary extension, or offering these long-term visa to card holders, according to officials dealing with the subject.
Until now, no decision has been made to extend the POR cards, but the government is working on a new visa policy for foreigners, said Charthry Talal, the Minister of State inside, while speaking to L’Express PK Press Club.
The case to give an extension was also discussed in the federal office, but no decision was made.
Talal said that the new visa policy would offer incentives to foreign investment in Pakistan and that Afghan citizens could also benefit from it.
Beyond the limits, an initiative of the Center for Research and Security Studies, worked for the resolution of the issue of Afghan refugees. He advocates a permanent solution to the problem so that the refugees who came to Pakistan after 1979 are not obliged to sell their assets at reduced prices and that these people can also contribute positively to the local economy.
Only people in the Dostokhail tribe hold about 52 billion asset rupees in Peshawar in the form of mobile and motionless properties on behalf of the others, a tribe trader said Ahmad Shah. Rich Afghans should not be expelled because they are mutually beneficial to them as well as for Pakistan, said Ahmad Shah.
Shah said they were not allowed to have assets and could not open bank accounts. But the authorities of the Central Bank said that thousands of card holders had had bank accounts.
Shah said his tribe also contributed to more than 14 billion rupees or $ 51 million in foreign funds last year. These funds are sent by the members of the tribe working in Europe, Canada and the United States, he added.
“Our family does not have a criminal record, and we are traders who do business in black tea, tires and batteries,” said Ahmad Shah.
“My children were born in Pakistan and they do not want to return to Afghanistan,” said Shah, who is worried about selling its Benami assets at disposable prices if the government finally decides to repatriate all Afghan refugees.
“We are traders because we do not have a permanent residence status and cannot invest in Pakistan,” said Mohammad Bakhtiar, another member of the Dostokhail tribe.
However, for the Pakistani authorities, $ 51 million in sending funds are not much compared to the cost they believe that the Pakistani economy paid due to the presence of Afghan refugees. The cost is in the form of the role of Afghan refugees in the illegal currency trade and the smuggling of goods under the Afghan Transit Transit Agreement.
During the last financial year, Pakistan obtained a record of $ 38.2 billion in foreign funds which contributed to displaying a current account of $ 2.1 billion. But there are questions about the sustainability of these funds due to the federal government’s decision to freeze subsidies to sending funds. He has also reduced the advantages of the sending of foreign funds, but a decision remains unanswered on who would make the bill.
The construction of exchange reserves is the responsibility of the Central Bank, so it is expected to finance the program, said this week to the finance secretary, the finance secretary, the finance secretary, told the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.
Bosal said the federal government had no funds to continue the Pakistan funding initiative program. The secretary said the Ministry of Finance was working with the Central Bank to find a solution, because no money was kept in the new budget.
“Within 89 billion compussion, budgetary complaints in the last financial year, the Ministry of Finance received nearly 200 billion complaints from the Central Bank … This is a fairly important piece,” said Bosal.
He said one of the options was that the central bank deduced the cost in advance of the profits it transfers to the federal government. However, the challenge is that it would always be dealt with as part of the primary expenses.
After several cycles of discussion on history, Beyond Boundaries recommended rationalizing visa processes for traders of Afghan origin and granting them a residence, allowing them to invest in Pakistan.
