Prisoners among thousand deported to Afghanistan

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): More than 7,300 undocumented Afghan refugees, including 100 prisoners, were deported to their homeland via the Torkham crossing on day one of a nationwide crackdown on illegal aliens.

Following the expiry of a month-long deadline, Pakistan initiated an operation against unregistered migrants on Wednesday and arrested hundreds of individuals in different parts of the country.

Since the start of October, the Ministry of Interior said, at least 140,322 foreigners, including a large number of Afghans, have voluntarily returned to their respective countries

A statement from the ministry said: “Today, we said goodbye to 64 Afghan nationals as they began their journey back home. This action is a testament to Pakistan’s determination to repatriate any individuals residing in the country without proper documentation.”

Many Afghan nationals, who were serving prison sentences for petty crimes, were freed for deportation to their home country, Dawn reported, citing official sources.

The newspaper said: “Those released from jails were involved in minor crimes and will not be required to complete their sentence on return to Afghanistan.”

As many as 7,300 Afghan nationals were repatriated on Wednesday, including 51 prisoners freed from Peshawar’s central jail and 64 from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.

More than 100 Afghans living on the outskirts of Quetta were arrested In Balochistan by police Federal Investigation Agency personnel. They were sent to holding camps before being deported via the Chaman crossing.

Balochistan Information Minister Jan Achakzai confirmed the detention of more than 100 undocumented Afghan refugees.

Another 1,000 Afghans are due to reach Quetta from Karachi on a special train before deportation to their country.

Achakzai told reporters at least 35,000 undocumented migrants had crossed over to Afghanistan via Chaman till Wednesday.

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