PESHAWAR: 1882 Afghan nationals were deported from Pakistan to Afghanistan through the Torkham border on Thursday. The heavy rainfall created difficulties for the deportation process which continued in spite of the weather conditions.
The deported individuals included 1142 who were holders of the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, 206 with Afghan Citizen Cards and 534 who were illegal immigrants living in Pakistan without proper documentation.
Pakistan has carried out the deportation as part of its ongoing border security operations which include the enforcement of its immigration regulations. The authorities executed all necessary procedures to facilitate the secure and orderly repatriation of the individuals according to the bilateral agreements between their respective countries.
The Afghan nationals returned to their home country through Pakistani authorities who maintained border control operations during adverse weather conditions.
Nearly 1 million Afghan nationals return home through KP borders
Earlier, the repatriation and deportation of Afghan nationals from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border points continue as a part of Pakistan’s ongoing attempts to deal with immigration problems.
According to official sources, almost one million Afghan citizens have been sent back to their home country since the initiation of the process.
As of now, the total number of returned Afghan nationals stands at 988,813 and it includes people from different categories:
Proof of Registration (PoR) cardholders: 230,470 persons
Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders: 71,570 persons
Illegal migrants: 686,772 persons
On the previous day alone, 2,312 Afghan nationals were turned back, classified as follows:
PoR cardholders: 1,522 persons
ACC cardholders: 277 persons
Illegal migrants: 513 persons
Most of this repatriation is taking place at the Torkham border, which is a major route between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials have vowed to conduct the repatriation process in a legal and clean way, ensuring each person is sent back by his/her legal status and classification.
Moreover, the authorities stated that it is a public-friendly operation, thus it becomes easier and faster to do so without causing long delays.
The present repatriation campaign is the first step in a larger project dealing with the registration and identification of Afghan refugees in Pakistan, besides the improvement of security and public services in the border areas. Hence, through regulation enforcement and returning both the registered and unregistered immigrants, the government aims to bring order and stability back to the regions concerned.
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