Pakistan begins preparations to send back Afghans

Pakistan has started preparations to launch the second phase of its repatriation drive to send nearly one million ‘documented’ Afghans back to Afghanistan, with orders given to district authorities and police to find and gather data of their whereabouts across the nation, Pakistan-based Dawn reported citing documents.

An official aware of the development said directives have been issued to district administrations and police to expedite the mapping of Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders, the report said.

No date has been announced yet. However, an official said the campaign to repatriate ACC holders could start in early to mid-summer, after receiving go ahead from Pakistan’s federal government.

Speaking to Dawn, Abid Majeed, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s additional chief secretary, said, “We have already started the mapping process.” He said, “It will pick up the pace after Ramazan and we hope to complete the survey before April 30.”

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 2.18 million documented Afghan refugees in Afghanistan, which include 1.3 million refugees having Proof of Registration (PoR) cards as per the census conducted in 2006-07 and an additional 880,000 refugees issued ACCs after a registration drive in 2017.

Afghans arrived in Pakistan after the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

According to officials, the number of Afghans who arrived in Pakistan was between 600,000 and 800,000, some with valid travel documents, but an uncertain future, Dawn reported.