Pakistan has temporarily halted the repatriation of illegal immigrants, including Afghan refugees, following a request from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The decision was made after the recent visit of UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi to Pakistan.
Sources indicate that during his visit, Grandi met with Afghan refugees in Peshawar and Haripur, and held talks with key Pakistani officials including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. In these meetings, Grandi highlighted humanitarian concerns and urged the Pakistani government to suspend the repatriation process.
Before this decision, Pakistan had been actively repatriating illegal Afghan nationals. As of June 22, 620,981 Afghans had returned to their country. Between July 11 and 21 alone, 13,815 Afghans were repatriated, including 5,014 men, 4,087 women, and 4,714 children.
This development comes after a significant meeting of the National Action Plan (NAP) apex committee on October 3, 2023, chaired by then-caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar. The committee had given a deadline for all foreign nationals living illegally in the country to leave voluntarily by October 31 or face deportation.
Since the deadline’s expiration, over 500,000 illegal Afghan immigrants have returned to their homeland via the Torkham and Chaman borders. Despite facing criticism from several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan, Pakistan maintained that only Afghans living illegally in the country were being deported as part of efforts to control increasing crime rates.
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Lanat kyun halt kiya deportation process kiya zameer nahi tum logon mein ???