Peshawar:
The Pakistani government Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has decided to respect the decision of the federal government on the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
However, it was specified that the refugees would not be expatriates by force from KP but would have the possibility of voluntarily returning to their country of origin.
For this, they will also receive the necessary installations.
The central government has given a deadline of March 31, 2025 to all Afghan refugees who are illegal or who have proof registration cards to leave Pakistan and return to Afghanistan.
In this regard, the chief minister of KP, Ali Amin Gandapur, had opposed the policy of the federal government at a press conference in Peshawar recently.
However, the Express PK Press Club has drawn very reliable sources in the provincial government that the Gandapur government will not interfere in any way with the policy implemented by the Center concerning the return of Afghan refugees and said policy would be followed.
Sources have declared that the provincial government would not expose Afghan refugees residing in different areas of the province, including Peshawar, and send them to Afghanistan, but would provide them with the possibility of leaving Pakistan alone and returning to their country of origin.
In this regard, sources have declared that an office would be established for these refugees on the Pak-Afghan border in Torkham so that they can go to Afghanistan from there according to their travel documents and also benefit from the necessary travel facilities.
The sources said that the governments of Punjab and Islamabad were responsible for the supply of transport and other facilities to the Afghan refugees migrating from these regions.
It has been reported that an important meeting will also be held in Peshawar next week in which questions related to the return of Afghan refugees in the country torn by the war would be discussed.
Background
Pakistan, March 17, had refused a request from the Afghan Taliban to grant an extension in the stay of Afghan refugees.
Kabul was transported in clear terms that Islamabad would stick to his plan to expel all holders of illegal and Afghan (ACC) civic cards from April 1.
In a major political decision, Pakistan on March 7 had announced that ACC holders had until March 31 to leave the country or face the expulsion. There are around 800,000 ACC holders in Pakistan, but after March 31, they would be treated as illegal foreigners.
Reports made tricks that Pakistan planned to expel all Afghans in the country, but it was the first time that the Ministry of the Interior officially confirmed development.
“The program of repatriation of illegal foreigners (IFRP) has been implemented since November 1, 2023. In a continuation of the government’s decision to repatriate all illegal foreigners, the national management has now decided to also repatriate the holders of the ACC,” read the official document of the ministry issued on March 7.
