More than 20,000 Afghans living in Pakistan rushed to the borders on Tuesday, ahead of a government deadline for 1.7mn undocumented people to leave or face arrest and deportation.
Millions of Afghans have poured into Pakistan, fleeing decades of successive conflicts, including an estimated 600,000 since the Taliban government seized power in August 2021 and imposed its harsh interpretation of Islamic law.
The Pakistan government has said from today it would begin arresting undocumented Afghans who refuse to leave and taking them to new holding centres, from where they will be processed and forcibly returned to Afghanistan.
Afghans would be allowed to leave voluntarily until the November 1 deadline, after which staggered deportations will begin from tomorrow, Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti said in a video statement.
“Only those people who are completely illegal will leave Pakistan,” he said on Tuesday afternoon.
At least 18,000 people had joined a snaking, seven-kilometre-long queue at the Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province by on Tuesday afternoon, Irshad Mohmand, a senior government official said.
Another 5,000 people had arrived at the southern Chaman crossing in Balochistan, border officials there said.
“Thousands of Afghan refugees are waiting for their turn in vehicles, lorries and trucks, and the number continues to grow,” Mohmand told AFP.
Once over the border, they face a further bottleneck as they must register with Afghan officials.
The Taliban government’s defence minister Mullah Yaqoob said Pakistan’s policy was “cruel and barbaric”.
A spokesman for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government said holding centres where Afghans would be held for one or two days for processing, would open from November 1.
“If someone refuses (to leave) they will be detained and deported. The combing operation against illegal Afghans will start from tomorrow,” Feroz Jamal told AFP on Tuesday.
A fourteen-year-old Afghan girl, who AFP has not named for security reasons, said she will stay in Pakistan as long as possible, despite not having legal papers.
“We are not going back home, because my education in Afghanistan would come to a grinding halt,” she told AFP in Peshawar.
“Our father has told us that if he is arrested by Pakistani authorities, we should not leave even then. Because we will have no life in Afghanistan.”
Several schools for Afghan students in the capital Islamabad closed from on Tuesday as families went into hiding, teachers told AFP.
Police and government officials in the city also oversaw the demolition of hundreds on Tuesday of illegally built mud houses where Afghans had been living in poverty.
“Enough is enough, tell us the route and we will arrange a vehicle and leave today. This humiliation is too much,” said 35-year-old Baaz Mohammed, who was born in Pakistan to refugee parents, as he watched a bulldozer raze his home.
Pakistan has said the deportations are to protect the country’s “welfare and security” after a sharp rise in attacks, which the government blames on militants operating from Afghanistan.
The policy has widespread support from Pakistanis, observers say, with a protracted refugee presence putting a heavy burden on the country’s infrastructure.
More than 100,000 Afghan migrants have already left Pakistan since the start of October, when the government announced a one-month deadline for Afghans it says are living illegally in the country. More than 80% have left via the northern Torkham border in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the majority of Afghan migrants live.
Police in the province said they have not yet begun arrests as families leave voluntarily, but Afghan refugees in Karachi and Islamabad have reported arrests, harassment and extortion.
Lawyers and activists have said the scale of the crackdown is unprecedented, appealing for Afghans — some of whom have lived for decades in the country — to be given more time to pack up with dignity.
“The Pakistani government is using threats, abuse, and detention to coerce Afghan asylum seekers without legal status to return to Afghanistan or face deportation,” Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday. “The situation in Afghanistan remains dangerous for many who fled, and deportation will expose them to significant security risks, including threats to their lives and well-being.”
FACTBOX
Here are key facts about Islamabad’s plan to deport hundreds of thousands back to its western neighbour Afghanistan:
nPakistan announced the Wednesday deadline on Oct 3, giving more than a million people about four weeks to move.
nThe sudden expulsion threat came after suicide bombings this year that the government said involved Afghans, though without providing evidence. Islamabad has also blamed them for smuggling and other militant attacks as well as petty crimes.
nIslamabad says Afghan nationals were found to be involved in attacks against government and the army, including 14 of this year’s 24 suicide bombings.
nPakistan is home to more than 4mn Afghan migrants and refugees, about 1.7mn of them undocumented, according to Islamabad, although many have lived in Pakistan for their entire lives.
nAbout 600,000 Afghans have crossed into Pakistan since the Taliban took over in 2021, joining a large number present since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 and the ensuing civil wars.
nMore than 60,000 Afghans returned to Afghanistan from Pakistan between September 23 and October 22, ahead of the deadline, with thousands more expected to have been on the move last week.
nIslamabad says deportation will be orderly, carried out in phases and start with those who have criminal records. Authorities have vowed raids in areas suspected of housing “undocumented foreigners” after today.
nAuthorities have set up “holding centres” to process deportees before they return to Afghanistan. Reuters could not determine how long they might be detained in the centres.