Pakistan expels 17,000 Afghans daily: UN

ATLANTA (Pajhwok): The United Nations has once again expressed concern over the mass deportations of Afghan nationals from Pakistan at the onset of winter.

Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the secretary-general, told reporters in New York on Tuesday the UN and International Organisation for Migration (IOM) together with other agencies continued to provide aid to returnees.

IOM said nearly 375,000 Afghans had returned home from Pakistan through the Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings between the two countries.

The number of returning Afghan nationals increased from 200 daily to 17,000 after the Pakistani government launched the deportation of all undocumented foreigners, including 1.7 million Afghans.

“Their situation is desperate; most people told us they were forced to leave the country and leave belongings and savings behind,” said Maria Moita, chief of the IOM Afghanistan mission.

Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says more than 400,000 Afghan refugees have returned to the country from Pakistan since November 1.

Mujahid told the Associated Press on Monday a large number of Afghan refugees had returned to the country through Torkham and Spin Boldak crossings.

The government of Pakistan had set the November 1 deadline for all refugees lacking legal residency documents to leave the country or face mass deportations.

According to reports, Afghan refugees with legal documents are also being arrested, their houses demolished and many forcibly evicted from Pakistan.

Earlier, Baluchistan Information Minister Jan Muhammad Achakzai told a press conference the eviction of undocumented Afghan migrants would end in January next.

sa/mud