PESHAWAR: Weeks after the federal government asked “illegal foreigners” and Afghan Citizen Card holders, residing in Pakistan, to leave before March 31, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur opposed the Centre’s policy, saying that they should not be expelled from the country forcefully.
“The Centre’s policy on Afghan refugees is flawed, The approach taken in the past violated human rights,” the provincial chief executive said while addressing a press conference in Peshawar on Sunday.
Islamabad has in the past blamed militant attacks and crimes on Afghan citizens, who form the largest portion of migrants in the country.
Pakistan launched its repatriation drive of foreign citizens, most of whom are Afghan, in 2023 but had said they were first focusing on foreigners with no legal documentation.
The United Nations says that more than 800,000 Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan since the repatriation drive began and that in total Pakistan hosted around 2.8 million Afghan refugees who crossed the border during 40 years of conflict in their homeland.
Pakistan is currently hosting 2.1 million documented Afghans. There are hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghan nationals also living in Pakistan for decades.
