PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): Pakistan has intensified a crackdown on illegal migrants, deporting around 1,100 Afghans via the Torkham crossing over the past 24 hours, officials say.
Eighty-five percent of the deportees were Afghan nationals arrested in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, as well as other cities of Punjab province.
Khyber Deputy Commissioner Bilal Shahid Rao said the Punjab government had intensified a crackdown on undocumented refugees and Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders across the province.
The Torkham crossing remains open round-the-clock to facilitate the deportation process, according to the official, who said some of the Afghans were returning to their homeland voluntarily.
Trucks and other vehicles carrying Afghan families and their household items are allowed entry on the basis of the temporary admission documents (TAD), customs clearing agents and officials say.
In a tidal wave of deportations in recent times, nearly 1,100 men, women and children crossed into their country via Torkham on Saturday.
Those deported had been rounded up in Islamabad and Punjab’s cities of Faisalabad, Rahimyar Khan, Hafizabad, Narowal, Sargodha, Multan, Sheikhupura and Bahawalpur.
In Landikotal town, the administration ordered all Afghans to vacate their houses and return to their homeland.
In the Kohat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, about 100,000 Afghans were told to return to their country voluntarily.
At a meeting with elders from refugee camps, senior administration officials said Pakistan had hosted Afghans for 40 years but it was time for them to return voluntarily.
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