PESHAWAR: In the wake of the looming deadline for illegal Afghan nationals to leave Pakistan, the Ministry of Interior’s Foreign National Security Cell has sought the record of Afghan students in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the provincial government.
In its letter addressed to KP’s interior secretary, the federal ministry said that the Foreign National Security Cell was updating its dashboard related to foreign nationals and needed the data of Afghan students by March 27.
The federal government’s move comes against the backdrop of its directives ordering all illegal aliens, including Afghan citizens, to leave the country by March 31.
The interim Afghan Taliban-led administration in Kabul had earlier requested Islamabad to extend the stay of Afghans residing illegally in in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. However, Pakistan had turned down the neighbouring country’s request.
The Afghan nationals, who have documents to go to another country, can stay here till March 31 this year. After this date, they will also have to leave Pakistan.
The Afghans, who have a valid Pakistani visa for the period for which it has been issued, can continue to stay till that time.
Government sources have said that the decision to expel Afghan nationals has become inevitable because of the security situation and sensitivity of the twin cities.
As per the statistics revealed by the Chief Commissioner for Afghan Refugees (CCAR) in February, Pakistan hosts around 2.9 million Afghan refugees of which 0.7 million were unregistered individuals whereas 1.4 million were registered.
Earlier, The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has decided to abide by the federal government decision on the repatriation of Afghan refugees.
However, it has been made clear that refugees would not be forcibly expatriated from K-P but would be given the opportunity to return to their homeland voluntarily. For this, they will also be provided with the necessary facilities.
The central government has given a deadline of March 31, 2025 to all Afghan refugees who are illegal or have proof-of-registration cards to leave Pakistan and return to Afghanistan.
In this regard, K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had opposed the federal government’s policy dur-ing a press conference in Peshawar recently.
However, The Express Tribune learned from very reliable sources in the provincial government that the Gandapur government would not interfere in any way with the policy being implemented by the Centre regarding the return of Afghan refugees and the said policy would be followed.
Sources said that the provincial government would not forcibly expel Afghan refugees residing in dif-ferent areas of the province, including Peshawar, and send them to Afghanistan but would provide them an opportunity to leave Pakistan on their own and return to their homeland with dignity. –Agencies
