CBN247 Report
Pakistan is likely to launch a countrywide crackdown against nearly a million Afghan refugees holding the Afghan Citizen Cards to repatriate to Afghanistan just after the Eid-ul-Fitre in the second phase of repatriation plan.
The government has set March 31 deadline for the Afghan Citizen Card holders and illegal refugees to be sent back.
When asked by journalists in a weekly press briefing about any plan to extend the final deadline for the Afghan refugees, the spokesman of the foreign office Shafqat Ali Khan replied, “not yet.”
Reports say there are over 800,000 Afghan Refugees, living in Pakistan with the Afghan Citizen Card holding and nearly half a million as illegally staying in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq has visited Afghanistan recently and it was hoped to have some relief for the ACC holders, but the foreign office spokesman denied any such decision.
Pakistan had launched a nationwide campaign against the illegal Afghan refugees in November 2023 and reportedly 844,000 Afghans have so far returned to Afghanistan via the Torkham crossing border and Chaman respectively.
This could be a massive campaign against the Afghans in the second phase, however, questions are still unanswered whether the government has the capacity and capability to make the process successful.
Afghanistan under the Taliban is facing multiple challenges and humanitarian crisis since it takeover Afghanistan. This influx of hundreds of thousands of Afghans could add to the woes of the Kabul government.
