Latest news with #ProofOfRegistration
Arab News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Over 200 Afghan PoR card holders return home as Pakistan sets September deportation deadline
PESHAWAR: More than 200 Afghan refugees holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards have returned to Afghanistan via Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said on Tuesday, after Pakistan's federal government renewed its call for Afghans to leave the country and set a September 1 deadline for deporting PoR cardholders. The ongoing expulsion drive began in 2023, the same year Pakistan witnessed a surge in militant violence, including suicide attacks that officials linked, without offering direct evidence, to Afghan nationals. Authorities initially targeted undocumented migrants, most of them Afghans, followed by those holding Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). In June this year, Pakistan declined to renew PoR cards, rendering 1.4 million previously documented refugees illegal under national law. PoR cards were issued by Pakistan to Afghans who were registered in collaboration with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and recognized the holder as a legal refugee in Pakistan. ACC cards, on the other hand, were issued to unregistered Afghans living in Pakistan, acknowledging them as Afghan nationals but without granting refugee status. '213 PoR card holders have returned to Afghanistan through the Torkham border, along with 273 ACC holders and 1,070 undocumented Afghan nationals,' Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Home and Tribal Affairs Department said in a statement. It added that one additional PoR card holder also crossed into Afghanistan via Angoor Ada, bringing the total to 214. Pakistan said on Monday it would begin formal deportations of PoR card holders starting September 1, while voluntary returns would begin immediately. 'Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards shall be repatriated to Afghanistan as part of the ongoing implementation of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP),' the interior ministry said in a notification. 'It has been decided that the voluntary return of PoR card holders shall commence forthwith, while the formal repatriation and deportation process will take effect from 1st September 2025,' it added. Islamabad aims to deport around 3 million Afghans, including 1.4 million PoR card holders and some 800,000 ACC holders. More than a million Afghans have already left Pakistan since the crackdown began in 2023, according to the UN refugee agency. Pakistan has long argued that some Afghan refugees are involved in militancy and crime, though the mass expulsions are widely viewed as an attempt to pressure Afghanistan's Taliban authorities to curb cross-border insurgents, particularly those targeting Pakistani forces in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. UNHCR has urged Pakistan to halt forced deportations and ensure that any returns are voluntary, gradual and dignified.
Arab News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Pakistan to start deporting Afghan Proof of Registration card holders from Sept. 1
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start deporting around 1.4 million Afghan Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders from September 1, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Monday, as Islamabad gave a fresh call for Afghan nationals to leave the country. Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan over the past several decades, fleeing successive wars, as well as hundreds of thousands who arrived after the return of the Taliban government in 2021. A deportation drive first launched in 2023 was renewed in April when Pakistan's government rescinded hundreds of thousands of residence permits for Afghans, threatening to arrest anyone who did not leave. Islamabad this year said it wanted 3 million Afghans to leave the country, including 1.4 million people with PoR cards and some 800,000 with Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC). 'Afghan nationals holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards shall be repatriated to Afghanistan as part of the ongoing implementation of the Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP),' the interior ministry said in a notification issued on Monday. 'It has been decided that the voluntary return of PoR card holders shall commence forthwith, while the formal repatriation and deportation process will take effect from 1st September 2025.' More than a million Afghans have left Pakistan since the expulsion drive first began in 2023, according to data from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Pakistan previously said those with PoR cards could stay until June 30, while the government has deported thousands of ACC holders. 'The repatriation of illegal foreign nationals, including Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, will continue as per the earlier decision under the IFRP,' the interior ministry added. In 2023, Islamabad said many of these Afghan refugees were found involved in militancy and crimes. Analysts say the expulsions are designed to pressure neighboring Afghanistan's Taliban authorities to control militancy in the border regions. Pakistan's security forces are under enormous pressure along the border with Afghanistan, battling a growing insurgency by ethnic nationalists in Balochistan in the southwest and the Pakistani Taliban and its affiliates in the northwest. Last year, Pakistan recorded the highest number of deaths from attacks in a decade and the government frequently accused Afghan nationals of taking part in assaults. Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, this week urged Islamabad to adopt a 'humane approach to ensure voluntary, gradual, and dignified return of Afghans' and praised Pakistan for hosting millions of Afghan refugees for more than 40 years, the AP news agency reported. 'We call on the government to halt the forcible return and ensure a gradual, voluntary and dignified repatriation process,' Afridi said. 'Such massive and hasty return could jeopardize the lives and freedom of Afghan refugees, while also risking instability not only in Afghanistan but across the region.'
CBC
7 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Pakistan resumes forced expulsions of 1.4 million Afghan refugees despite UN concerns
Authorities in Pakistan have resumed the forced deportations of Afghan refugees after the federal government declined to extend a key deadline for their stay, officials said Monday. The decision affects approximately 1.4 million Afghans holding Proof of Registration (PoR) cards, whose legal status expired at the end of June. Many had hoped for a one-year extension to settle personal affairs, such as selling property or concluding business, before returning to Afghanistan. In addition to PoR cardholders, around 800,000 Afghans hold Afghan Citizen Cards. Police say they also are living in the country illegally and being detained prior to deportations in the eastern Punjab, southwestern Balochistan and southern Sindh province. Monday's decision drew criticism from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN refugee agency. At least 1.2 million Afghans have been forced to return from Iran and Pakistan this year, according to a June UNHCR report. Repatriations on such a massive scale have the potential to destabilize the fragile situation in Afghanistan, where the Taliban government came into power in 2021. A July 31 government notification seen by The Associated Press confirms Pakistan's decision to repatriate all Afghan nationals holding expired PoR cards. It states Afghans without valid passports and Pakistani visas are in the country illegally and must return to their homeland under Pakistani immigration laws. Police across Pakistan are detaining Afghans to transport them to border crossings, according to two government and security officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They said there are no mass arrests and police were told to go to house-to-house and make random checks to detain foreigners living in the country illegally. "Yes, the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan illegally are being sent back in a dignified way," said Shakeel Khan, commissioner for Afghan refugees in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. WATCH | Researcher says Afghans in Pakistan scared to leave their homes: Human Rights Watch says Afghans in Pakistan arbitrarily detained, forced to pay bribes 5 months ago Fereshta Abbasi, an Afghanistan researcher with U.S.-based Human Rights Watch says Afghan migrants — documented or not — are fearful of leaving their homes in Pakistan, after reports of arbitrary arrests and extortion, as they face a government-set deadline of March 31 to leave the country. The latest operation is the most significant step yet under orders from federal government in Islamabad, he said. Rehmat Ullah, 35, an Afghan, said his family migrated to Pakistan's northwestern Peshawar city decades ago and now is preparing to return home. "I have five children and my concern is that they will miss their education," he said. "I was born here, my children were born here and now we are going back," he said. Millions have fled to Pakistan over the past four decades to escape war, political unrest and economic hardship. The renewed deportation drive follows a nationwide crackdown launched in 2023 targeting foreigners living illegally in Pakistan. The Interior Ministry, which oversees the campaign, did not immediately comment. Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN refugee agency, expressed deep concern over the government's recent actions. "Sending people back in this manner is tantamount to refoulement and a breach of a state's international obligations," Afridi said in a statement, urging Pakistan to adopt a "humane approach to ensure voluntary, gradual and dignified return of Afghans" and praised the country for hosting millions of Afghan refugees for more than 40 years. "We call on the government to halt the forcible return and ensure a gradual, voluntary and dignified repatriation process," Afridi said. "Such massive and hasty return could jeopardize the lives and freedom of Afghan refugees, while also risking instability not only in Afghanistan but across the region."
Washington Post
7 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
Pakistan resumes forced expulsions of 1.4 million Afghan refugees despite UN concerns
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Authorities in Pakistan have resumed the forced deportations of Afghan refugees after the federal government declined to extend a key deadline for their stay, officials said Monday. The decision affects approximately 1.4 million Afghans holding Proof of Registration cards, whose legal status expired at the end of June . Many had hoped for a one-year extension to settle personal affairs, such as selling property or concluding business, before returning to Afghanistan.
